Americans Are Outliers in Views on Climate Change

As President Obama sets out to convince the public that climate change requires immediate attention, he has his work cut out for him. Perhaps more than people in any other rich nation, Americans are skeptical that climate change is a dire issue. In Pew Research Center surveysconducted last spring, 40 percent of Americans said that global climate change was a major threat to their country. More than 50 percent of Canadians, Australians, French and Germans gave that answer. More than 60 percent of Italians and Spaniards did. And more than 70 percent of Japanese did. Read more.