The poll of 625 registered voters found that 62 percent believe global warming will result in adverse effects, with 30 percent predicting many adverse effects, and 32 percent anticipating some adverse impacts.
Thirty-three percent foresee no real adverse effects or consider it unproven, while 5 percent were undecided. The poll showed 7 percent of Montana voters believe there will be no real adverse effects, while 26 percent consider global warming unproven.
By political party, 86 percent of Democrats and 42 percent of Republicans think global warming will lead to many or some adverse impacts. Fifty-two percent of Republican voters say they foresee no adverse effects, including 42 percent who consider it unproven. On the Democratic side, 12 percent see no adverse effects or consider it unproven.
Among independents, 63 percent foresee many or some adverse effects, while 30 percent see no adverse effects or believe global warming is unproven.
Voters then were asked if they were personally willing to make major sacrifices to potentially slow global warming, such as paying more for electricity, driving a hybrid vehicle, paying more for gas or using other, more expensive alternative fuels.
Results showed 63 percent were willing to make major sacrifices, with 28 percent unwilling and 9 percent undecided.
Broken down by gender, 70 percent of women were willing to make such sacrifices, while 20 percent were not and 10 percent weren't sure. Among male voters, 56 percent said they were willing to make the sacrifices, while 36 percent were not, with 9 percent undecided.
Eighty percent of Democratic voters said they are willing to make sacrifices, while 13 percent were not, with 7 percent undecided.
Among Republicans, 51 percent said they would be willing to make such sacrifices, while 40 percent were not, with 9 percent uncertain.
Independents, by 61 percent to 28 percent, said were willing to make sacrifices to help slow global warming, with 11 percent undecided.
Nicole Briceno, 30, a work force manager at a Butte call center, said she believes global warming probably will be a problem.
“I see it with the fires, the hurricanes and the tsunamis,” she said. “I would love to buy a hybrid car. I've tried to cut down on energy emissions out of our house. I bought all energy-efficient light bulbs. We do as much as we can.”
“I'm scared to death,” said Jan McPherson, 67, a retired decorator from Stevensville. “We can quit killing the Earth. We don't have to put so many pollutants into the air.”
Unconvinced about global warming was Beatrice Rosenleaf, 51, a semi-retired Anaconda woman.
“Oh, it's a fairy tale,” she said. “Yeah, man hasn't helped the situation with all the stuff we put in the air. But if you go back and study, we've been through cycles before. I truly think we're at the beginning of a cycle.”
The Lee telephone poll of 625 registered Montana voters was conducted Dec. 17-19 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C. The margin of error is plus or minus four percentage points.
On other topics, Montana voters, by 64 percent to 25 percent, strongly oppose government efforts to make it more difficult to own guns. Eleven percent were undecided.
Eighty percent of men, 48 percent of women, 79 percent of Republicans, 76 percent of independents and 34 percent of Democrats oppose government efforts to make it harder to own guns.
Supporting government efforts to make it harder to own guns were 48 percent of Democrats, 42 percent of women, 18 percent of independents and 8 percent of men. The rest were undecided.
Felix Gilbertson, 35, a farmer-rancher 20 miles south of Flaxville in Daniels County, opposes government efforts to limit gun ownership.
“I think the government should stay out,” he said. “It is our sovereign right to own a gun. It's not that guns commit the crimes, bad people do.”
McPherson opposed making it more difficult to own rifles, but would favor making it harder to own handguns.
Asked to rate the single most important state issue facing Montana, 29 percent of poll respondents listed the economy, jobs and economic development. They weren't read the answers, but their answers were placed in broad categories.
Here were the rest of the responses: taxes, government spending and budget, 15 percent; education issues and school funding, 13 percent; health care costs and issues, 11 percent; utility bills, electric power and energy, 7 percent; agriculture and farm issues, 4 percent; environmental protection, growth, climate change, 3 percent; social and moral issues and family values, 2 percent; access to public lands for recreation, 2 percent; roads and transportation, 1 percent; law enforcement, crime, prisons, drugs, 1 percent; gun rights and gun control, 1 percent; other issues, 5 percent; and not sure, 6 percent.
Finally, most voters polled said they expect their personal financial situation to stay about the same in the next year, and most said they spent about the same amount of money in 2007 as the previous year on Christmas and holidays.
Sixty percent said they expect their personal situation to stay the same, while 26 percent looked for an improvement and 12 anticipate it will get worse. Two percent were undecided.
“It's going to improve next year,” Briceno said. “My husband got a better-paying job.”
“The commodity prices are at a record level,” farmer-rancher Gilbertson said. “If they stay like that, if we cut a fair crop with these prices, we'll be in good shape.”
Said Rosenleaf: “Being retired, we're on a fixed income, so it's not going to get any better.”
As for Christmas and holiday spending in 2007, 54 percent said they spent about the same as in 2006, while 31 percent spent less and 14 percent more, with 1 percent unsure.
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