Floridians believe global warming will have dangerous impacts on the state

MIAMI — A new survey of Floridians finds that most are convinced that global warming is happening now and that more should be done by key leaders to help Florida deal with climate change. The survey is the first-ever study of Floridians’ opinions about global warming and was conducted by researchers at Yale University and the University of Miami, with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

A survey of 1,077 adults in Florida from May 1, 2008 to May 19, 2008 was fielded by Knowledge Networks, using a representative, online research panel. The survey’s key findings include:


A majority of Floridians are convinced that global warming is happening (71%) and that global warming is caused mainly by human activities (55%), or caused equally by humans and natural changes (13%).

65 percent believe that global warming is already having or will have dangerous impacts on people in Florida within the next 10 years.

69 percent believe that parts of the state’s coasts may need to be abandoned due to rising sea levels over the next 50 years.

Likewise, large majorities believe that global warming will cause worse storms, hurricanes and tornadoes (80%), droughts and water shortages (80%), flooding of major cities (68%), food shortages (68%), less tourism (64%), and increased rates of disease (57%).

EurekAlert