Maybe it's the weather up there: Two recent polls show that fewer Canadians than Americans doubt climate change's occurrence. 

An online survey of 1,550 people found that only two percent of Canadians don't think climate change is occurring, according to Jennifer Graham of the Canadian Press. Comparatively, a July University of Texas at Austin Energy Poll found that 15 percent of Americans don't believe, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The number of Americans who doubt has gone down recently — in March, 22 percent didn't think it was occurring. Mark Drajem at Bloomberg Businessweek explained the decrease has to do with the noticeable weather phenomena in the country, like heat waves and drought. 

UT Energy Poll director Sheril Kirshenbaum told us that climate change opinions tend to be based on cultural factors. In their July poll, the partisan divide was obvious with far fewer Republicans believing in the trend than Democrats. As far as politics in Canada go, ThinkProgress points out that Danielle Smith, a Canadian politician with doubts about climate change, was met with harsh reactions. Graham wrote that her "refusal to admit climate change exists cost her party a shot at victory." 

Image by Rambleon via Shutterstock

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Esther Zuckerman