PPP survey: Marco Rubio's climate-change skepticism hurts him in matchup with Hillary Clinton

The following is from press release sent by Americans United for Change, a liberal group that hired a Democratic-leaning survey firm to produce this poll concerning Marco Rubio and his skepticism of climate-change science:

"A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that the carbon emission reduction standards announced by President Obama yesterday are popular with voters across the country, and that voters have little tolerance for a Presidential candidate in 2016 who doesn’t believe that climate change is caused by human activity. Crucial independent voters, in particular, are not sympathetic to the GOP’s climate skepticism.

"Key findings from the survey include:

"-Voters support the 30% reduction standard in carbon pollution from existing power plants by an 18 point margin, 53/35. Independents (59/29) are particularly strong in their support for the standards.

"-Voters, and particularly independents, don’t have much tolerance for climate skeptics when it comes to the 2016 Presidential race. Only 38% of voters say they’d be willing to support a candidate who doesn’t believe global warming is caused by human activity, and by an 11 point margin they say they would be less likely to vote for such a candidate. When it comes to independents just 29% would be open to supporting a climate skeptic.

"-This issue could be particularly problematic for Senator Marco Rubio given his recent comments on it. Voters say by a 56/33 margin that they have more faith in the scientists than Rubio when it comes to the issue of climate change, and among independents it’s 57/27. Rubio starts out trailing Hillary Clinton by a 49/42 spread in a hypothetical match up anyway, and when respondents were informed about Rubio’s stance on climate change it pushed Clinton’s lead up to 9 points at 50/41. That’s a wider margin than Barack Obama won either of his elections by.

"The politics on this issue are pretty clear. Voters believe in man made climate change, and they support President Obama’s new initiative to help deal with it. Republicans risk putting themselves in an even deeper hole with independent voters by continuing to express their skepticism, and it has the potential to help cost them yet another Presidential election in 2016.

"PPP surveyed 735 registered voters on June 2nd on behalf of Americans United for Change. The survey’s margin of error is +/-3.6%"

"-Voters support the 30% reduction standard in carbon pollution from existing power plants by an 18 point margin, 53/35. Independents (59/29) are particularly strong in their support for the standards.

"-Voters, and particularly independents, don’t have much tolerance for climate skeptics when it comes to the 2016 Presidential race. Only 38% of voters say they’d be willing to support a candidate who doesn’t believe global warming is caused by human activity, and by an 11 point margin they say they would be less likely to vote for such a candidate. When it comes to independents just 29% would be open to supporting a climate skeptic.

"-This issue could be particularly problematic for Senator Marco Rubio given his recent comments on it. Voters say by a 56/33 margin that they have more faith in the scientists than Rubio when it comes to the issue of climate change, and among independents it’s 57/27. Rubio starts out trailing Hillary Clinton by a 49/42 spread in a hypothetical match up anyway, and when respondents were informed about Rubio’s stance on climate change it pushed Clinton’s lead up to 9 points at 50/41. That’s a wider margin than Barack Obama won either of his elections by.

"The politics on this issue are pretty clear. Voters believe in man made climate change, and they support President Obama’s new initiative to help deal with it. Republicans risk putting themselves in an even deeper hole with independent voters by continuing to express their skepticism, and it has the potential to help cost them yet another Presidential election in 2016.

"PPP surveyed 735 registered voters on June 2nd on behalf of Americans United for Change. The survey’s margin of error is +/-3.6%"