A new poll suggests most Canadians believe climate change is a reality, but people in various regions hold widely different attitudes — with Albertans expressing the most skepticism.

The survey conducted by Angus Reid Strategies released Thursday found that almost four in five Canadians — 77 per cent — are convinced global warming is real.

"This is the biggest study that has been done on Canadians and their opinions and attitudes towards global warming," Angus Reid poll researcher Ellie Sykes told CBC News Thursday.

"People are really getting on the band wagon. They're really looking for government and corporations to take a much larger step than they have so far."

In Alberta, 69 per cent of respondents said they believed in global warming, while in Quebec, the number soared to 83 per cent. 

Fifty-seven per cent of Quebecers polled said they are promoting better behaviour toward the environment, while only 36 per cent of Albertans said they are doing the same.

Global warming as big an issue as health care

Sykes said one of the most significant findings of the survey was that Canadians ranked global warming at the top of their concerns along with health care.

The online survey of about 3,600 people found many Canadians — 30 per cent — believed global warming was the top issue for politicians to address, almost as many as the 31 per cent of Canadians who put health care as the top priority.

"We haven't seen that since the '80s," Sykes said.

Almost half — 47 per cent — believe climate change will affect their lives and those of future generations, while 42 per cent think it will not significantly affect their lives, but will have an impact on the lives of future generations, the poll suggested.

Only 12 per cent of those surveyed viewed global warming as "junk science" and only two per cent believed global warming isn't happening at all.

"Canadians feel very, very strongly about this issue and I think that it's going to become something that's really going to drive topics for discussion in the next election," Sykes said. "They're definitely doing that already."

The survey was conducted between March 6 and March 19 and has a margin of error of 1.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

The polling company will release a second part of its survey next week that discusses how Canadians are split into discernable groups on their behaviours toward climate change, Sykes said.