By Ben Geman - 04/08/13

Concern about global warming is rising among U.S. residents, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.

A combined 58 percent worry either a “great deal” or a “fair amount” about climate change, according to the survey conducted in March.

That’s an increase from 2011, when it was 51 percent, but lower than it was at several other points in the past. The new figure is well below the 72 percent in 2000, and 66 percent in 2008 found in other Gallup polls as concern has waxed and waned over the last two-plus decades.

The polling data arrives as President Obama is vowing to take new steps using his executive powers to battle climate change.

A Pew Research Center poll released last week showed increasing belief in global warming in recent years after an earlier period of decline, but a recent dip in the share of people who consider it a “very serious problem.”

Gallup polled 1,022 U.S. adults, and the results have a margin of error of plus-or-minus four percent.

The company also took the pulse of public views on whether global warming has begun, the reliability of news accounts of the topic, awareness of the scientific consensus on climate change, and more.

"Gallup trends throughout the past decade – and some stretching back to 1989 – have shown generally consistent majority support for the idea that global warming is real, that human activities cause it, and that news reports on it are correct, if not underestimated. However, those views have shown significant variability," Gallup said in a summary of the data.

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http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/292341--poll-global-warming-fears-rising