Majority Of Americans Actually Do Support Paris Climate Deal

The election of Donald Trump as the new president of the United States had scientists and environmentalists in a scurry. After all, this is a climate change denier who pledged to do away with policies that specifically addressed global warming. Their biggest problem? Trump himself vowed to "cancel" U.S. participation in the Paris Climate Agreement that was negotiated by almost 200 countries late last year in order to push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions around the world, country by country.

However, Trump may have to rethink his decision. A new survey released by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs suggests that if he withdraws from the agreement, it will not sit well with the Americans -- as a survey of 2,061 citizens in June found that 71 percent of them support the Paris deal, including 57 percent of the Republicans.

Opinion researcher Dina Smeltz, who also happens to be the lead author of the report, told The Washington Post that Democrats see the deal as a high priority for foreign policy, and Republicans are not as passive about the issue as initially thought. Smeltz said, "An increasing percentage of Republicans now say that some gradual action should be taken" to address such concerns.

This goes against Trump's assertion of the Paris Agreement giving "foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use right here in America." In fact, as noted by The Huffington Post, the U.S. and every other party that agreed to the terms of the Paris Agreement have complete control over their own energy use. But each of them is expected to make good faith efforts in reaching its self-determined targets.

With the transparent reporting structure, the U.S. has little to lose from staying in the agreement and definitely much to gain. As most countries understood, the entire world has a great deal to lose if we lose in our battle against climate change.