And it would matter a lot if the mainstream media would not put this as if contrarian researchers are on equal footing as what virtually all climate researchers are reporting what is going on.
As it is, I do think that this is beginning to be an important issue, it was one of the factors why Cuccinelli lost in Virginia.
But that 38% are, I’m sure, most of them geographically concentrated in solid-red districts, therefore denialism is a winning issue there.
I’ll bet you a Republican that holds those beliefs in the next presidential election garners more than 38% of the votes.
Sad but true. More of the 38% than the 62% are likely to vote.
When this is broken down by Demo/GOP/Other, belief in AGW (with “Not sure” discarded) is 94% / 16% / 63% respectively. It would be interesting to see what the figures would have been without the question’s referencing Rubio.
You seem to be forgetting that Obama believes in global warming, and therefore, global warming MUST be false.
Some issues poll one way, but don’t affect elections. Climate change is just not a top issue for most voter. I dare say that the only time it affects elections is when candidates promise to raise your electric bill to save the planet.
Climate change polled near the bottom the last time Gallup asked what issues were most important to Americans:
BTW, twice as many people in that poll worry a great deal about the size and power of the federal government, and I’d be shocked if very many of those were worried because the government wasn’t big and powerful enough.
Those who want to keep and/or expand Obamacare would fall into that category. IOW, a solid majority.
Your guys aren’t doing so well at picking winning issues lately, are they?
I’d say the top issues right now favor Republicans.
- the economy
- federal spending and the deficit
- Unemployment
- Size and power of the federal government
And it’s not like 3) is helping Democrats right now.
Unemployment got really bad under Bush, and it’s getting better under Obama. How is that supposed to hurt Democrats?
Nobody who is not a Republican die-hard believes Republicans will help fix 1 and 4. And anyone who knows how Republicans ACTUALLY govern as opposed to how they SAY they will govern does not believe that Republicans will help 2 and 5. But I don’t know how many of the electorate are that well informed.
Likewise for size of government, which got larger under Bush, and smaller under Obama. Some people just cannot be confused by the facts.
3? Proffit!??!?! 
The Republicans made the point that being over 8 percent in the unemployment rate was going to be the end for the democrats, but now they do not talk too much about that number as currently it is around 6.5.
Of course, consistency is something Republicans can not seem to find a lot. Incidentally I pointed out that regarding Climate Change the issue is not very important now, but it is growing in importance, eventually people (specially the industrialists and businesses that will be affected) will notice that the blind can not, and should not, lead them.
Except unemployment in the US is far higher than 6.5%. The headline figure may be 6.5% but that is largely due to people falling out the workforce. The participation rate in the US is alarmingly low.
Let’s see how the US economy does over the entire economic cycle. That means waiting for another downturn(on average these occur every 7-8 years). Only then will we get a better idea of just how healthy the US economy and finances are.
As for climate change I doubt much will happen soon. The amount of people who feel strongly on the matter has probably peaked at least for now.
That’s only #3? 
Cite?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-labor-force-participation-rate-falls-sharply-in-april-2014-05-02
“WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. labor-force participation rate sank to 62.8% in April from 63.2% in March to match a 35-year low, the government reported Friday. Some 806,000 people dropped out of the labor force”
The reason why this subject fascinates me is that it touches many aspects of society, one of them is the media.
This issue also shows how the idea that the media is mostly liberal is poppycock. And then there is another item: the media is also lazy. You are describing indeed one part of the problem; but as I pointed out, once businesses notice how this will affect their bottom line then the corporate media will pay the attention this deserves; and there is indeed nothing worse than businesses finding out that they were had by the current crop of Republicans.