The Yale University Project on Climate Change Communication has released a survey on the attitudes of Americans towards global warming. The survey is being reported in the media as purported support for action on greenhouse gas emissions (witness the title of Yale's own webpage for the report: “Americans Support CO2 Limits on Existing Coal-Fired Power Plants”). A closer look at the survey's questions and answers reveals the public's views are not so clear cut -- even if we assume the results are broadly representative of American public opinion.
