Doubting man-made climate change is the big thing in Republican circles these days. Nearly every Republican running for the Senate this year denies that humans are contributing to a rise in the Earth's temperature, while 53 percent of tea-party supporters don't think climate change will ever have any "serious impact" on the planet, according to a Times poll. A Politico article recently suggested that "[i]t's going to be hard winning the Republican presidential nomination if you’re not a climate skeptic." Perhaps it's a good move, then, for New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who could very well run for president in 2016, to err on the side of skepticism, as he did at a town hall yesterday.

Mankind, is it responsible for global warming? Well I'll tell you something. I have seen evidence on both sides of it. I'm skeptical — I'm skeptical. And you know, I think at the at the end of this, I think we're going to need more science to prove something one way or the other. But you know — cause I've seen arguments on both sides of it that at times — like I'll watch something about man-made global warming, and I go wow, that's fairly convincing. And then I'll go out and watch the other side of the argument, and I go huh, that's fairly convincing too. So, I go to be honest with you, I don't know. And that's probably one of the reasons why I became a lawyer, and not a doctor, or an engineer, or a scientist, because I can't figure this stuff out.

Does it help that the people who did become scientists have figured it out already?

Chris Christie Skeptical That Global Warming Is Caused By Humans [HuffPo]