Poll: Climate change seen as top global threat
U.S. differs with world, viewing cyberattacks as a greater danger
Climate change is essentially tied with the Islamic State as the most-feared security threat across much of the world — except in the United States, where cyberattacks are considered a greater danger than global warming, according to a Pew Research Center report released on Tuesday.
Residents of 13 countries ranked climate change as the greatest threat, while in 17 countries the Islamic State was considered a more immediate problem. In the United States, however, a partisan divide pushed climate change to thirdmost severe perceived threat, after the Islamic State and cyberwarfare. Just 56 percent of Americans surveyed identified global warming as the most serious threat to the country, compared to 71 percent for cyberwarfare and 74 percent for Islamic State attacks.
Jacob Poushter, Pew’s senior researcher and a co-author of the study, said that in most countries terrorism and climate change were seen as the most pressing dangers. The United States was an exception, he said.
“The stark partisan divide between those on the left and the right means there is a large portion in the United States that doesn’t see climate change as a threat,” Poushter said. “But there’s a large percentage that does, so that lowers the number.” The survey of 41,953 people in 38 countries was conducted from February through May.
Countries with poverty and civil strife worried about climate change.
While Latin America is certainly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, its countries rarely rank among the most at risk.
That unfortunate distinction tends to go to Chad, Sudan, low-lying island states and other places where poverty and civil strife meet rising seas, floods and drought.
Russians are among the least concerned about warming.
The Russian heat wave of 2010 was made three times more likely by climate change, a study later found.
But Russians are generally apathetic about rising greenhouse gas emissions, the Pew survey confirmed.
Russia ranked climate change fifth among its global concerns in the Pew survey, below the Islamic State, the economy, the refugee crisis and the influence of the United States.
American opinion on climate change is partisan.
Among Americans who consider themselves left-leaning, 86 percent cite rising emissions as a dangerous threat, compared to only 31 percent on the right. Terrorism is the biggest worry for Americans, with 74 percent putting the Islamic State as the top threat to the country. Close behind are cyberattacks.
Climate change is ranked third among Americans with 56 percent of people surveyed believing it is a major threat.