Kirsti Marohn

kmarohn@stcloudtimes.com

The majority of Minnesotans believe climate change is occurring and is caused mainly by human activity, according to a new St. Cloud State University survey.

In its statewide fall survey, St. Cloud State asked respondents about their beliefs about climate change and the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota.

The survey results released Tuesday show 89 percent of Minnesotans believe climate change is occurring now, while 7 percent do not believe it is and the rest don't know.

Fifty-six percent of respondents said they believe climate change is caused by human activities, while 33 percent believe it is mainly the result of natural causes.

The results show a higher percentage of Minnesotans believe climate change is occurring than do Americans as a whole. In a Pew Research Center survey in January, 67 percent of American adults said there is solid evidence the Earth is warming.

Ann Finan, sociology professor at St. Cloud State and one of the survey directors, said she wasn't surprised by the results.

"I think Minnesotans are fairly concerned about natural resources, and historically have demonstrated those concerns on these kind of attitude surveys," Finan said.

However, when the St. Cloud State survey results were broken down by political party, the responses were significantly different. While the majority of both Democrats and Republicans said they believe climate change is happening now, most Democrats — 68 percent — attribute the problem to human activities, while 42 percent of Republicans believe it's the result of natural forces.

"That's where we see the big difference," Finan said.

Still, regardless of their beliefs on the cause, more than three-fourths of respondents said it's important for Minnesota to take action to prepare for climate change.

There was no clear majority opinion among respondents about the PolyMet proposal. Forty-one percent said they didn't know whether they supported the mine, while slightly more people said they supported it than said they opposed it.

The scientific survey was based on telephone interviews of 551 adults between Oct. 13-22.

Follow Kirsti Marohn on Twitter @kirstimarohn.