ABC News/Stanford University/Time Magazine Environment Poll #1, March 2006

This special topic poll, conducted March 9-14, 2006, is
part of a continuing series of monthly polls that solicit public
opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social
issues. The focus of this data collection was on environmental
issues. Respondents rated the condition of the natural environment,
and identified the most important environmental problem facing the
world. Those polled were asked whether they approved of how President
George W. Bush, the United States Congress, and American businesses
were handling issues involving the natural environment, how much
President Bush's policies, American businesses, and the American
public did to help or harm the environment in the past year, and how
much respondents wanted them to help the natural environment in the
next year. Several questions asked how important the issue of global
warming was to respondents, how much they knew about it, how serious a
problem it was, and how much could be done to prevent future global
warming and reduce its effects. Additional topics addressed changing
local and worldwide weather patterns, scientists' assessments of the
environment and global warming, whether the federal government should
require companies and individuals to take measures to reduce global
warming, and what type of vehicle respondents drove. Demographic
variables include sex, age, race, education level, religious
preference, household income, political party affiliation, political
philosophy, type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), whether
respondents had any children or grandchildren, and whether they
considered themselves born-again or evangelical Christians.