Poll: 46 percent blame weather disasters on man-made climate change

More than two-thirds of Americans think that weather disasters are getting worse, according to a new Associated Press-NORC poll. And many of them point a finger at climate change.

Overall, 68 percent of the Americans polled say that they believe severe weather events are getting worse. Among that group, 46 percent think that man-made climate change is to blame. Another 39 percent of respondents say that they believe it is a combination of global warming and natural variability. 

Twenty-eight percent of respondents say they think weather disasters seem to be staying the same, while only 4 percent reported they believe they are less severe. 

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The findings come in the wake of three hurricanes that hammered the U.S. and its territories in recent weeks.

In late August, Hurricane Harvey ravaged the Gulf Coast, bringing with it historic rains and flooding to southeast Texas, particularly the Houston area.

Weeks later, Hurricane Irma tore through the Caribbean before making landfall in Florida, dealing significant damage to Key West and others areas in the southern part of the state. 

And another storm, Hurricane Maria, barreled across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands — both U.S. territories — last month. The storm ignited a humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico and sparked criticism of the Trump administration’s slow-to-start response on the island.

According to the AP-NORC poll, two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how President Trump is handling climate change. Some 63 percent said that they believe climate change is a real phenomenon and that the government should take action on the matter.

So far in 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has recorded 15 weather and climate disasters, each with losses exceeding $1 billion. That number is approaching the record 16 billion-dollar disasters in 2011.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,150 adults was conducted Sept. 28 – Oct. 2 with a margin of error for all respondents of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.