Obama rejects global warming critics as 'marginalized'

President Barack Obama warned of increased skepticism on global warming and related legislative initiatives - as more Americans question the threat.

Citing "overwhelming scientific evidence," U.S. President Barack Obama sought to paint a picture of a "marginalized" population of global warming critics ahead of a key congressional push on cap and trade legislation. Speaking at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday, Obama warned that the opposition will intensify as Congress gets closer to shaping a climate change bill. "There are going to be those who... make cynical claims that contradict the overwhelming scientific evidence when it comes to climate change, claims whose only purpose is to defeat or delay the change that we know is necessary," Obama said. However, while the White House administration and Democratic lawmakers toil on a global warming bill, fewer Americans believe the issue is all that important. According to a report from the Pew Research Center, there has been a dramatic decline in Americans who believe in the evidence supporting global warming. In April 2008, 71 percent of Americans firmly believed that there was solid evidence behind the assertion that humans are directly responsible for global warming - and that supportive figure is now down to 57 percent. The global warming question is a global issue, and European leaders are putting pressure on the United States to act. However, India and China have formed their own pact to consider the question without outside interference - meaning effectively that European-American legislation will not have meaningful global reach. The issue for Americans will likely come down to cost - within the goal of an 80 percent reduction in global warming pollution by 2050.