Poll: Most Republicans support Paris climate pact

Most Republicans who have heard about the Paris climate agreement support international work to combat climate change, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday. 

Fifty-eight percent of Republicans told pollsters they support U.S. involvement in a global push to fight climate change, like the one reached by countries in Paris earlier this month. Forty percent of Republicans said they would support a presidential candidate who felt the same. 

{mosads}While most GOP presidential candidates are hostile to President Obama’s climate change agenda, few have taken a position on the Paris deal. Those who have, though, oppose it. 

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) last week called it an “unfunny joke of a climate deal.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this week said he would stop working toward the goals set out within the Paris deal if he’s elected president. 

All the major Democratic presidential candidates have said they would focus more on climate change if they were elected next year. According to Reuters, the party is still much more supportive of action than Republicans: 91 percent of Democrats support more U.S. involvement in combating global warming. 

The Paris climate deal saw most countries around the world commit to cutting their carbon emissions as a first step toward stopping global warming. The Obama administration said the U.S. would look to cut its emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025 as part of the deal. 

Polling also shows support for Obama’s climate change policy, the carbon emissions standards for power plants. According to a survey released Monday by liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling, 64 percent of voters support the Clean Power Plan, with 28 percent opposed.