A recent segment on the Today show presented the case for New York City “congestion pricing” (aka, charging drivers 8 bucks to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan), based largely on its ability to reduce global warming. Clips were shown of a variety of government and media figures, including John McCain, Michael Bloomberg, and Robert Redford, agreeing violently that global warming is a bad thing.

Amusingly, the host of the segment then interviewed some commuters on their way into the Holland Tunnel and asked for their comment on the proposal. Here are 100% of the responses:

Woman in car: “I just think New York pays enough taxes overall. Enough taxes, enough tolls coming in.”

Man in car: “It means that only rich people are gonna be able to live in Manhattan.”

Man in car: “Why should I pay to drive in the city?”

I assume that this means she could not get a single commuter to say anything even vaguely supportive.

As per the more comprehensive survey analysis that Iain and Chris have previously cited on this blog, it’s pretty easy to get people to say that “global warming is bad” to a pollster, and pretty tough to get a majority of voters to agree to real costs.