Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
that most people are poorly informed about public affairs. For exam-
ple, one study found that less than 2 percent of Americans could name
at least fi ve members of the Supreme Court. Given all the things most
people have to worry about, this might be rational but regrettable igno-
rance. People have a clear sense of their general stance on things (“I
think the country needs to reduce spending,” or “Things are going off
track”). But they are usually vague on the details of many political, eco-
nomic, or scientifi c questions, and the science of global warming seems
to be one of the details.
A second fi nding, in part resulting from the fi rst, is that people tend
to form their opinions on specifi c issues by listening to and adopting the
views of the elites of groups they adhere to. Today, most people get
their news from the Internet and television, and relatively few from
newspapers. They will get quite a different view of politically charged
subjects depending upon the Web sites they visit or the talk shows they
listen to.
The dependence of people on the views of elites is not surprising.
After all, they cannot study every issue in depth. People have their ex-
perts on the role of government and social policy. Since they trust them,
they are likely to adopt their views on the environment and foreign
policy as well. This is particularly true if they spend only 10 minutes a
month thinking about these issues and believe that fossil fuels are the
fossilized remains of dinosaurs.
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Modern theories of public opinion, such as those in the writings of
John Zaller, emphasize the points just made and then propose a mecha-
people start out knowing little on most technical subjects. If a question
is framed in a way that reminds them of something they know and care
about, that will frame their answer.
One of the questions on global warming surveys is the following:
“How worried are you about global warming?” Suppose the question
was asked right after a snowstorm, when you had just spent an hour
digging out your car. The answer might be “Not at all worried” because
you remember the snowstorm and actually are dreaming of sitting on
the beach.
