Listen up, Limbaugh: It's not actually ridiculous for a Republican presidential candidate to take global warming seriously. Americans want solutions, like bike lanes and increased public transit, that will address climate change, and that's true across the political spectrum. In a recent poll, 74 percent of Republican respondents supported bike lanes, and 80 percent wanted more public transportation.
People are actually less concerned about federal action on climate change now than they were pre-recession (the director of the Yale Project on Climate Change, which performed the study, theorizes that they have other things to worry about). But even so, a majority of respondents supported bike lanes, transit, sprawl reduction, clean energy, and sprawl reduction (Republicans were split 50/50 on that one).
Nobody was crazy about the idea of actually paying for this stuff, which makes it easy for Republican politicians who don't care what people want to make sure they don't get it (just yell "taxes!" at it until it goes away). But respondents mainly balked when presented with gas fees or tax increases (even a carbon tax offset by lower income taxes). They were okay with renewable energy requirements that they were told would increase their utility bills.
