A special report, Politics & Global Warming: Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and the Tea Party reports how the members of each political party respond to the issue of global warming. The Tea Party has become an important new player in American politics, so this report for the first time separates their views on global warming from the traditional political categories of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, Sep 7, 2011

I read their summary in my inbox this morning. This bullet from their "Global Warming Beliefs" section hit home:

• Tea Party members are much more likely to say that they are "very well informed" about global warming than the other groups. Likewise, they are also much more likely to say they "do not need any more information" about global warming to make up their mind

The study is also the topic of "Survey: Tea Party Isolated on Climate, But Wide Accord on Most Energy Policies," a post by Andrew Revkin on DOT Earth, NY Times, Sep 7, 2011.

Revkin concludes his post with this ominous warning:

"In reviewing the study, I found myself mulling the Tea Party views above in the context of recent research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute concluding that when 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, that belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society.

"Add in a big dose of talk radio and attack blogs, our habit of conducting politics from the fringes, and the Republican nomination process, then have a look around."