"Shocking partisanship?"  I think that's a mis haracterization at a fundamental level.  It is not because Republicans want to defeat Democrats at any cost (which is what I would call partisanship), but that their worldview is profoundly ideaologically, and at odds with reality.  They don't care about the science, unless it is short term enough to boost next quarters bottom line, and in line with their ideological blinders.

If you show a "conservative" evidence that sex education reduces teen pregnancies, abortions, and STD rates, their eyes glaze over and they simply fail to make the obvious leap that they should support sex education since it promotes the things they claim to want.  Likewise, show them evidence that global warming is a real threat to economic development and stability, and then argue that it requires concerted governmental and private initiative, and they hide in terror from the truth, because it might lead to regulation or other government action.

The problem is not partisanship.  It's an inability to act on facts and reasoned arguments when they threaten your cozy world view.

The Republicans dropped off right at the point where the ad talked about acting alone. They want to get India and China and Russia on board first, the rest they seem to agree with.

Not an altogether dogmatic stand.

Ig-Pop....I highly doubt that the Reds and Yellows on the political graph dropped off because they don't want to "go it alone" without India, China and Russia. I think it has to do more with a personal bias about accepting the realities of global warming and what they thing or hear the "party" is doing or proposes to do. I think it says volumes about how myopic and unfaithful those Republicans and Independents are when it comes to America leading on the GW issue and the environment. The problem as been selling this idea as a national issue and not a party issue.

What's more telling is the divergence of the 40-54 year olds with the 26-39 and 55+ crowd that track together. Does this mean there's a lost generation who still believe the earth is a static machine or that they can't "do" anything about it without Chinese or Russian help? I think maybe it's because the civic values of those Gen-X and Greatest Generation age groups track closer than the Boomer generation who seem to think we can't lead on this issue.

I get pissed when the Right trot out the "we'll loose market share to the Chinese if we have clean energy standards and fuel efficient cars" canard. One because it isn't true and two is say much about their faith in American ingenuity, market responsiveness and American pride if they think we're unable to lead on the GW issue and maintain our quality of life and Two: We should be leading on this and cashing in on the low & high hanging fruits of renewable energy technology, development, manufacturing and implementation. Instead we're standing around wearing the Republican Ass-hat and waiting for Europe to keep leading the way and China and India to pass us up while we wait for some other country to show us the way.

I agree Single. Well said. I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. A mental excercise I do sometimes, kinda like ideological streching.

I'm about to watch a Newsnight interview with an old Tory Chancelor who claims the climate crises is a modern "Da Vinci Code". Should be fun.

I think we're missing the point entirely ... look at the chart.

The midpoint is "0%" ... as in "neither agrees nor disagrees." Even the Republican line, when it drops, is still above zero.

The line obviously doesn't represent one person ... it's an average from a whole set of focus group members; so there were some Republicans who agreed, some who disagreed, and some who didn't know, but on the average they showed at least a slight leaning toward "We have to act now."

It's not great, but it is a start--it's a conversation.