Majority of Canadians and Americans agree on climate change issues, poll suggests

The majority of Canadians and Americans agree that climate change is real, a major crisis and more needs to be done to combat its effects, suggests a new poll.

In a survey of 1,000 adults from both sides of the border a majority of Canadians (64 per cent) and Americans (53 per cent) believe that global warming, or climate change, "is a fact and is mostly caused by emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities."

About one-quarter of respondents from both countries said it "is a fact and mostly caused by natural changes."

Only 7 per cent of Canadians and 14 per cent of Americans said "global warming is a theory that has not yet been proven."

Similarly, a majority of those polled feel climate change is a major crisis 62 per cent of Canadians and 51 per cent of Americans while 26 per cent on both sides agreeit is a minor crisis, and a sliver of Canadians (7 per cent) and Americans (14 per cent) sayit is not a crisis at all.

About two-thirds of Canadians think governments, companies and individuals need to do more to deal with issues relating to climate change, while just over half of Americans feel their country should do more.

And when it comes to paying to address those issues with higher taxes, about half of those surveyed would be willing to pay more to combat climate change, floods, forest fires, and fund improvements to transit, schools and housing.

The study, conducted by Research Co., is based on an online survey of 1,000 adults from Canada and the U.S between June 1 and3. A comparable margin of error for a probabilistic sample of this size would be plus or minus 3.1 per cent.