Most Americans Support Government Action on Climate Change, Poll Finds

WASHINGTON — An overwhelming majority of the American public, including nearly half of Republicans, support government action to curb global warming, according to a poll conducted by The New York Times, Stanford University and the nonpartisan environmental research group Resources for the Future.

In a finding that could have implications for the 2016 presidential campaign, the poll also found that two-thirds of Americans say they are more likely to vote for political candidates who campaign on fighting climate change. They are less likely to vote for candidates who question or deny the science of human-caused global warming.

Among Republicans, 48 percent said they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports fighting climate change, a result that Jon A. Krosnick, a professor of political science at Stanford University and an author of the survey, called “the most powerful finding” in the poll. Many Republican candidates either question the science of climate change or do not publicly address the issue.

This nationwide survey asked people for their views on whether global warming will be beneficial or detrimental, about how the president and Congress have responded to it, and what they believe government should do about it.

Nonetheless, 47 percent of Republicans still said they believe that policies designed to curb global warming will hurt the economy.

A pledge to fight climate change appears to have less attraction for older voters. The poll found that older Americans are slightly less inclined to support a candidate who calls for action to reduce global warming and similarly less negative toward a candidate who rejects the premise of global warming.

“Global warming hasn’t much importance to me,” said William Werner, 73, a retired sales manager in San Antonio. “It is not man-made in my opinion because there have been cycles forever and we can’t do much about that.”

He added, “If you’re speaking about voting for someone in this country who says they can take actions that will affect global warming, I don’t believe it, because we are just not that big a polluter compared to other countries.”

Coral Davenport reported from Washington, and Marjorie Connelly from New York. Marina Stefan contributed reporting from New York.

The New York Times