Public opinion in the vast majority of 19 countries around the world favors a greater commitment to dealing with global warming than they see in their governments, according to a polling report released by WorldPublicOpinion.org in late July. However, in the US government commitment and public desires are near the bottom of the list:
A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 19 nations from around the world finds that majorities in 15 think their government should put a higher priority on addressing climate change than it does now. This includes the largest greenhouse gas emitters: China (62% want more action), the US (52%), and Russia (56%).
In all but three nations most people think their government should give climate change a relatively high priority (6-10 on a 0-10 scale: on average 7.33). However in only four nations do most people think that is what their government is doing.
The poll also found that people tend to underestimate how high a priority their fellow citizens place on addressing climate change, with twice as many people saying they are above average than saying they are below average.
WorldPublicOpinion.org conducted the poll of 18,578 respondents in 19 nations that comprise 60 percent of the world's population. This includes most of the largest nations--China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Russia--as well as Mexico, Chile, Germany, Great Britain, France, Poland, Ukraine, Kenya, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, the Palestinian territories, and South Korea. Polling was also conducted in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
Overall, these results bode well for the prospects of 350.org, which is coordinating local actions worldwide on October 24, pushing the goal of 350 parts per million carbon dioxide as the reduction target goal--a number that's determined by the science, not the poltiics. These actions are directed by citizens towards their political leaders, and thus these poll results are right in line with their thinking--citizens are already ahead of where they think their governments need to be.
It's Not So Much That We're Sadists, More That We Trust The Wrong People
The following graphic from The Economist caught my attention:
Showing that only a handful of countries have more people willing to endorse torture--we're neck-and-neck with Egypt, while Nigeria, India, Turkey and South Korea are the only countries with substantially more pro-torture sentiment the US.
And so I went back to the report it's based on, World Public Opinion on Torture (pdf), from worldpublicopinion.com. It has a more nuanced, though less graphic chart showing that most support for torture is limited to terrorists in the "ticking time-bomb" scenario--an exceeding rare situation. It presents a less harrowing picture of the US, but still a troubling one. Chart on the flip, with more info.
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Public opinion in the vast majority of 19 countries around the world favors a greater commitment to dealing with global warming than they see in their governments, according to a 
