Poll: Causes of Warmer Weather Split by Party Lines

The spring season has now officially begun, but it's been unseasonably warm and spring-like for weeks now. A recent Gallup poll documents a political party line split over the cause of the unusual weather. The Allegheny Frontís Kate Malongowski has more.

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MALONGOWSKI: Thirty percent of respondents said the increased temps were due to global warming, while 43 percent blamed normal variations in the weather.

Less than one-fifth of Republican respondents said climate change was a factor, versus the 43 percent of Democrats who said so.

PennFuture Project Manager Sharon Pillar wasnít surprised by the political part split. But she says climate change should be more than a belief.

PILLAR: When weíre looking at climate change, we do sometimes politically, people who align with different political parties or ideologies, different emphasis or importance on the role of science. And this really isnít about a belief in global warming because itís scientific fact that weíre talking about.

MALONGOWSKI: Pillar says people should be cautious of weather-related questions, because climate change should be reviewed over longer periods of time.

The poll randomly surveyed more than 1,000 people from all 50 states in early March.

For the Allegheny Front, Iím Kate Malongowski.