Poll: Most back federal action on climate change

A majority of Americans, including roughly half of Republicans, support government action to curb climate change, according to a new poll.

Conducted by The New York Times, Stanford University and the research group Resources for the Future, the poll found that 48 percent of Republicans are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports actions that tackle climate change.

{mosads}Forty-eight percent of Republicans and 72 percent of independents said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who says human-induced climate change is a hoax. 

In all, 77 percent of Americans said they want the government to make significant steps in fighting climate change.  

Broken down, 90 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of independents and 48 percent of Republicans wanted federal action.

The findings come just one week after the Senate voted 98-1 that climate change is real and not a hoax, which many Republicans viewed as a politically charged attempt by Democrats to get them on the record ahead of 2016.

Also notable, the poll found that 81 percent of Americans say climate change is caused by human activities; that’s up from 72 percent in 2011.  

Again by party, that’s 88 percent of Democrats, 83 percent of independents and 71 percent of Republicans who say human activity contributes to climate change in some way.