Issue Watch
Track global public opinion on current issues.
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- Vladimir Putin
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Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Americans Review Hurricane’s Possible Causes
(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Adults in the United States hold differing views on the recent natural disaster that hit the Gulf Coast, according to a poll by TNS released by the Washington Post and ABC News. 54 per cent of respondents believe hurricanes are severe weather events that happen from time to time, while 39 per cent of respondents blame global climate change.
Hurricane Katrina hit the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Aug. 29. Officials believe thousands of residents may have died as a result of the storm and its aftermath.
The term global warming refers to an increase of the Earth's average temperature. Some theories say that climate change might be the result of human-generated carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
In 1998, several countries agreed to the Kyoto Protocol, a proposed amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The agreement commits nations to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The U.S. signed the protocol but has not ratified it.
Last month, Republican Alabama state senator Hank Erwin equalled Hurricane Katrina with a punishment from a higher power, saying the affected areas "have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness. It is the kind of behaviour that ultimately brings the judgment of God." 67 per cent of respondents disagree with this notion.
Polling Data
Do you think recent hurricanes mainly reflect severe weather events that happen from time to time, or the effects of global climate change?
Weather events that happen from time to time | 54% |
Effects of global climate change | 39% |
No opinion | 7% |
Are the hurricanes a deliberate act of God?
Yes | 23% |
No | 67% |
No opinion | 10% |
Source: TNS / Washington Post / ABC News
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,019 American adults, conducted from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27, 2005. Margin of error is 3 per cent.