That is interesting - I wonder if, as Mike Kenward suggest, a follow-up
survey could be carried out to see if these percentages have changed.
There is another interesting US poll that was published last week:
http://www.climatechangecommunication.org/images/files/ClimateBeliefsJun
e2010(1).pdf
It shows that in June 2010, 81% of the public strongly or somewhat trust
scientists as a source of information about global warming, compared
with 74% in January and 82% in November 2008. In other words, the trust
of the US public appears to have been restored to its previous very high
level.
However, I am a bit cautious about extrapolating these results to the
UK. According to the Stanford poll that was mentioned in my first
message, only 32% remembered reports of the media coverage of the
problems surounding the UEA, and only 24% remembered the problems
relating to the IPCC. However, the media coverage about these issues was
far greater in the UK than in the US, so I think it likely that more
people here remember the problems and may have had their views affected.
It will also be interesting to see if the controversies surrounding
climate science have any effect on scientists' ranking in the annual
MORI survey of trust in the professions, which I think is due to be
published in October.
Bob Ward
Policy and Communications Director
Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
http://www.lse.ac.uk/grantham
Tel. +44 (0) 20 7106 1236
Mob. +44 (0) 7811 320346
-----Original Message-----
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of dee rawsthorne (TOC)
Sent: 15 June 2010 11:59
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Complacency about public trust in climate change
science?
During a small (about 100 people) public engagement event organised by
the John Innes Centre in Norwich in May 2009 we asked the audience which
source of information about climate change did they trust the most. 55%
said scientists, 41% said they didn't know who to trust, 3% the internet
and nobody trusted information received from friends, government or the
media.
The audience were predominantly (70%) over 60 and well educated, if
anyone wants a copy of the full results let me know off list.
Dee
-----Original Message-----
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Ward
Sent: 14 June 2010 18:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PSCI-COM] Complacency about public trust in climate change
science?
I would be interested in hearing thoughts from psci-commers on a couple
of new surveys of public opinion about climate change science.
A very interesting report was published last Friday by Cardiff
University on 'Public perceptions of climate change and energy futures
in Britain': http://www.understanding-risk.org/
Among its key findings is that while an overwhelming majority (78%) of
the public think that the climate is changing, this is markedly less
than the 91% who agreed with this statement in 2005. Only 24% agree that
climate change is mainly caused by human activity, and 20% disagree or
strongly disagree with the statement that "most scientists agree that
humans are causing climate change".
While this is informative research, I have one criticism - although it
notes that 40% believe the seriousness of climate change is exaggerated,
it does not explore to what extent scientists are trusted as a source of
information, even though there has been a lot of negative media coverage
over the past six months about the controversies involving the
University of East Anglia and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change.
This is in contrast with a new poll published last week by Stanford
University which includes an examination of whether trust has been
affected by these controversies:
http://woods.stanford.edu/docs/surveys/Global-Warming-Survey-Selected-Re
sults-June2010.pdf
Among its findings are that 32% of the US public remember hearing about
the controversy over the UEA e-mails, and a small but detectable
minority (9%) now believe as a result that scientists who study the
world's climate should not be trusted. Similarly, 24% of the US public
remember hearing about the controversy over mistakes in the last report
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and 13% now believe as
a result that the report should not be trusted.
I have not seen a single poll of the UK public that has asked about
trust in climate scientists, even though the UEA controversy is much
closer to home and the volume of media coverage has been much greater
here. Surely this is worth investigation by researchers? Or maybe there
is a perception in the UK that public opinion hasn't been affected? Or
we think it doesn't matter? Are we being complacent?
Bob Ward
Policy and Communications Director
Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment London
School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street London WC2A
2AE
http://www.lse.ac.uk/grantham
Tel. +44 (0) 20 7106 1236
Mob. +44 (0) 7811 320346
Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic
communications disclaimer:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/planningAndCorporatePolicy/legalandComp
lianceTeam/legal/disclaimer.htm
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