While the majority of Americans believe there is solid evidence of global warming, the GOP is deeply divided on the issue as a large share of Tea Party Republicans deny any evidence of climate change.
A poll released by the Pew Research Center Friday found Republicans facing greater internal divisions over climate change than Democrats. Just 25 percent of Tea Party Republicans said there is solid evidence of global warming, versus 61 percent of non-Tea Party Republicans.
Considering all Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 23 percent said there is evidence of global warming mostly caused by human activity while 19 percent said warming exists but is caused by natural patterns. Twenty-five percent of all Republicans say climate change is simply not happening and there is no solid evidence for it; 20 percent say there is no solid evidence, but not enough is known yet.
Only four percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners expressed the view the global warming is not happening. Overall, 67 percent or two-thirds of Americans said the evidence for climate change is solid.
The poll surveyed 1,504 adults nationwide by phone from October 9-13, with a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
