Poll: Plurality Deny Leftist Narrative that Climate Change Is Triggering Severe Hurricanes

A plurality of Americans do not believe the leftist narrative that climate change is triggering more severe hurricanes smashing into the United States, a recent survey from The Economist/YouGov found.

The survey asked respondents, “Do you think recent severe hurricanes are primarily the result of climate change or do these kinds of events just happen from time to time?”

Forty-one percent expressed the belief that these hurricanes are the “result of climate change,” but 43 percent said either that they happen from time to time or that the climate is not changing. Of those, 38 percent said hurricanes just happen time to time, and five percent said the climate is “not changing.” Sixteen percent remain unsure. 

A majority of Republicans, 71 percent, and a plurality of independents, 40 percent, agree that climate change is not a main driver of severe hurricanes, but 66 percent of Democrats believe it is. 

The survey follows Hurricane Ian, a powerful Category 4 storm, slamming into the west coast of Florida last week. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was among those who implied that Democrat policies could actually curb severe weather events, such as massive storms, generating mockery across social media. 

She told MSNBC’s Morning Joe at the time that Democrats “just did something about climate change, for the first time in decades.”

“That’s why we’ve got to win this, as that hurricane bears down on Florida. We gotta win in the midterms,” Klobuchar added.

Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL), who is challenging Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in this year’s gubernatorial race, echoed Klobuchar’s sentiments, suggesting that any proper hurricane response must include addressing climate change. 

“They’re getting bigger. They’re getting stronger. You know the size of this storm, you could have put three Hurricane Charleys, which hit the same part of Florida, inside the eye of Ian. I mean, so there’s proof positive that we need to address climate change,” he said:

However, history shows powerful storms are not a new event, as Breitbart News reported:

While Hurricane Ian will certainly go down in history as an extremely devastating storm, it is hardly the first, despite the left’s suggestions otherwise.

For example, NOAA identifies the 1935 “Labor Day hurricane” as a record-setting storm, with the lowest central pressure at the time of its U.S. landfall on the Florida Keys. 

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused the highest storm surge recorded, and the Galveston, Texas, Hurricane of 1900 — 122 years ago — is recorded as the deadliest hurricane hitting the U.S. specifically, as the Category 4 storm caused between 8,000 and 12,000 deaths, per NOAA data. 

 

The survey was taken October 1-4, 2022, among 1,500 U.S. citizens, and has a ± 3% margin of error (adjusted for weighting).