1. 'Climate change' rings truer than 'global warming'
American skepticism about whether the
world's weather is changing depends
partly on wording. More believe in
"climate change" than "global
warming," a new study by the
University of Michigan shows.
Three of four people, or 74%, thought
the problem was real when it was
referred to as climate change, while
68% thought it was real when it was
called global warming, according to
questions posed by U­M psychologists
on a RAND­conducted survey of 2,267
U.S. adults..
"Wording matters," study co­author
Jonathon Schuldt said in announcing CAPTION By Fen Montaigne
the findings, which will be published in
A book by author and journalist Fen Montaigne chronicles five months he spent studying
the upcoming issue of Public Opinion
Antarctica's penguins and the impact of climate change on them with ecologist Bill Fraser.
Quarterly. "While global warming focuses attention on temperature increases, climate change focuses
attention on more general changes," he said. "Thus, an unusually cold day may increase doubts about
global warming more so than about climate change."
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The study found the differences were due almost entirely to participants who identified themselves as
Republicans. While 60% of Republicans said they thought climate change was real, only 44% said they
believed in the reality of global warming. In contrast, 86% of Democrats thought climate change was a
serious problem, regardless of wording.
"It might be a ceiling effect, given their high level of belief," co­author Sara Konrath, a U­M
psychologist, speculated. "Or it could be that Democrats' beliefs about global climate change might be
more crystallized, and as a result, more protected from subtle manipulations."
The good news, the study says, is that Americans may not be as polarized on the issue as previously
thought. "When the issue is framed as global warming, the partisan divide is nearly 42 percentage
points. But when the frame is climate change, the partisan divide drops to about 26 percentage points."
said the third author, Norbert Schwarz, who is also affiliated with the U­M Ross Business School and
the Institute of Social Research.
As part of the study, the researchers also analyzed the use of the two terms by political think tank
websites. They found that conservative groups tend to call the phenomenon global warming, while
liberal ones call it climate change.