The good news? The number of Senate skeptics is down from 77% in 2006

Do you want to know why Republican Senators voted last week to filibuster the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act? Put plainly - they just don't buy it. Or, in the words of one Republic Senator: "This global-warming debate is a farce."

Think Progress has gleaned an interesting nugget from the recent "congressional insiders poll" published in the National Journal. The poll included a question about whether the Senators believed in the anthropogenic causes of global warming. The question posed to 39 Republican and 39 Democrat Senators is as follows:

Q: Do you think it's been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the Earth is warming because of man-made pollution?

Republicans (39 votes)

      Now          April 2006
Yes   26 percent   23 percent
No    74 percent   77 percent

Quote of Note: "What has been proven is that a well-targeted pop-culture campaign can trump even the best of science. The bad news is, a very few will get very rich, and the rest of us will foot the bill with mythical creations like cap and trade. The impact of such programs on the environment: Zero. The cost to the American public: Huge. The grin on Al Gore's very wealthy face: Priceless!"

Democrats (39 votes)

      Now          April 2006
Yes   95 percent   98 percent
No     5 percent    2 percent

Quote of Note: "When Columbus returned to Spain from the New World in 1493, was he still asked if the world was flat?"