Just under 70% of Icelanders are seriously concerned about global warming, RÚV reports. Individuals level of concern about climate issues is, perhaps not unexpectedly, closely related to their political affiliations. These are among the findings of a recent survey on the matter conducted by the firm MMR.
Thirty-five percent of respondents reported being “very concerned” about global warming ad 33% said they were “fairly concerned.” Twenty-one percent said they were neutral on the issue, 5% said they were a little concerned and 6% said they were not very concerned.
Overall, women reported higher levels of concern about global warming than men, with 76% of women saying that they were either “very” or “fairly” concerned about the issue, as compared to 60% of men.
The youngest and the oldest people surveyed reported the highest level of concern, although the older the respondent, the more likely they were to report having “little concern” about global warming. Sixteen percent of respondents 68 years and older said they had “little concern” about the issue, as compared to 7% of the youngest respondents, or those aged 18-29.
Political affiliation split people’s opinions on global warming fairly dramatically. Ninety-six percent of Social Democrats said they were “very concerned,” as did 89% of Left-Greens and 78% of Reform and Pirate Party supporters. Voters on the other end of the political spectrum did still report significant levels of concern, however. Indeed, 60% of Independence Party supporters said they were “very concerned;” 53% of People’s Party and 51% of Progressive Party supporters said they were concerned. Centre Party supporters reported the lowest level of concern, or 39%.
The survey was conducted from May 23 – May 29. Nine hundred and thirty-two respondents aged eighteen and older were selected at random to participate.
