Poll: Majority of Virginians worried about climate change

Three out of four Virginians think global warming is real and most want government at all levels - federal, state and local - to take actions to fight it, according to a statewide opinion poll released Tuesday.

Authors described the poll of 660 state residents as one of the first and most comprehensive snapshots of how Virginians of all ages, backgrounds and political sympathies feel about one of the great environmental issues of the era.

The Virginia Climate Survey was conducted by phone interviews between Sept. 4 and 24 and was financed with grants from private foundations and donors through the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Among its findings, 39 percent of respondents think human activity spurs climate change by the burning of fossil fuels, 20 percent think the Earth is simply going through a natural warming cycle, and another 30 percent say a combination of natural and man-made causes are to blame.

Among believers, 61 percent think global warming is a "very serious" problem, and 72 percent want government to "take immediate action."

The most popular policy option, according to the poll, is requiring power companies to generate electricity with a prescribed percentage of renewable energies, such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass.

Increased gasoline taxes and a carbon tax finished last on a list of 15 options offered to survey participants.

Nuclear energy was fairly popular as an alternative source, with 30 percent "strongly supporting" its expansion in Virginia and 14 percent "strongly opposing" it.

Virginia Dominion Power, the state's largest electric utility, is seeking government approval to build at least one new nuclear reactor at its Lake Anna power station northwest of Richmond.

Barry Rabe, a visiting scholar at the Miller Center, who helped to oversee the poll, said the results "roughly mirror" those seen nationally. For example, 75 percent of Virginians think global warming is occurring; nationwide, 71 percent think so.

Similarly, 13 percent of state residents don't think global warming is really happening; 21 percent nationally feel the same way.

During a presentation of the findings Tuesday, Rabe said he was especially struck by the "across-the-board" belief that all levels of government are responsible for fixing the problem.

The poll comes as the governor's Commission on Climate Change winds down its yearlong study of how best to reach a key goal established by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's administration - reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2025.

Secretary of Natural Resources L. Preston Bryant Jr. said the poll should provide political cover in the state General Assembly, where any Virginia-specific global-warming programs would need to be approved.

Showing such widespread support for government action to reluctant state delegates and senators, Bryant said, "hopefully will mean something, that so many Virginians believe this is real and important."

The co-author of the poll, Christopher Borick, director of the Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., said one key question asked of Virginians is why they believe or don't believe in global warming.

The No. 1 response among believers is personal experience - "they felt, personally, that things were warmer," Borick said. The second-most popular was evidence that glaciers and polar ice are melting.

One percent said they were convinced by former Vice President Al Gore's award-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."

The top reason offered by skeptics is that natural patterns sufficiently explain any fluctuation in temperatures. Twelve percent gave no reason, and 5 percent said the media is misleading the public about the issue.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com