“When you don’t like the poll numbers, make up your own poll“. Anthony Watts is disgusted that the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University is spending public money on opinion surveys and releasing their conclusions: Majority of Americans Continue to Believe that Global Warming is Real. The PDF is here.

When pollsters ask Americans to name the most important problem facing the country, fewer than 3 percent mention the environment. But when asked to name the most serious problem facing the planet if left unchecked, the environment and global warming rise to the top, according to a May 2010 study by Woods Institute Senior Fellow Jon Krosnick.

Conventional pollsters have asked the “most important problem” (MIP) question since the 1930’s and short-term issues always predominate in tough economic times. Climate change is less immediately pressing than paying the rent, so climate change has dropped in “the most important problem” ranks.

This is what the denialists have been shouting as proof that they’re “winning”. Once again the denialists have staked their position on a misrepresentation.