Global warming belief cools in USA

WASHINGTON (AP) - A new poll suggests that the number of Americans who believe there's solid evidence of global warming has declined to its lowest point in three years.

The poll, from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, found that just 57 percent of the people who were surveyed said there's strong scientific evidence that the Earth has gotten warmer over the past few decades.

That's down from 77 percent in 2006.

The drop came during a time of mounting scientific evidence of climate change -- from melting ice caps to the world's oceans hitting their highest monthly recorded temperatures.
And it was released a day after 18 scientific organizations wrote to Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming.

Earlier polls from other organizations haven't detected a growing skepticism about global warming. And a Stanford University researcher who's been conducting similar surveys since 1993 says the results of this poll are "implausble" -- since there's nothing that could have caused the decline.