The problem conservatives got themselves into on
this issue was that the majority would not even
admit that the earth was going through a warming trend.
They flat out denied there was any change.

Then when that fell through, the next argument
had to be "well we are not causing it as it has
happened many times in the past"(warming and
cooling trends when humans were not present).

Then that argument was shown to be skewed as the
warming trend appears to be much more rapid
than should be expected given what we know
about past warming trends.

It is complex. But many people have jumped the gun
on both sides.