So now just 51% believe something that is pretty obvious from our own personal interactions with people, and fairly well proven from science, anthropology, and observations from the rest of the animals of the world. So it shows how just a few right-wing bigots can continue to keep half of the population of the country believing something that is not consistent with science or human nature. Only a very few religious leaders are able to do this, and apparently it no longer includes the Pope.
Only a few Tobacco companies were able to convince the majority of the country that smoking didn't cause disease. Only a few leaders (including Ronald Reagan) were able to hold off on preventing spread of HIV/AIDS with pseudo-science. Only a very few are able to make people believe that immunizations are dangerous and can cause autism even though there is no science to prove it. So it must be obvious that only a few coal-industry funded pseudo-science spokesmen can keep much of the population believing that there is no global warming, and if so, it isn't caused by humans. One other wave of junk science is the rebellion against GMO food. There is no science that shows that eating GMO food is any more dangerous than any other food. But people are now believing GMO is dangerous, and laws are being passed and marketing strategies are using non-GMO to help sell products at higher prices.
It seems that there is no easy defense against this sort of phenomena. The only thing I can see to do is to improve education of our citizens to encourage people to think for themselves.
