Report · May 19, 2020
Climate Change in the American Mind: April 2020
By Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Seth Rosenthal, John Kotcher, Parrish Bergquist, Matthew Ballew, Matthew Goldberg, Abel Gustafson and Xinran Wang
Filed under: Beliefs & Attitudes
10. Becoming Informed About Global Warming
10.1. Six in ten Americans feel well informed about global warming, but only one in ten feel “very well informed.”
Six in ten Americans (60%) feel at least “fairly well informed” about global warming, but only one in ten (10%) Americans feel “very well informed.” Only 5% of Americans say they feel “not at all informed” about global warming.
10.2. Majorities of Americans are interested in news stories about various topics related to global warming.
Majorities of Americans are at least “moderately” interested in news stories about issues related to global warming, including actions being taken by the U.S. government in response to global warming (60%), actions that the presidential candidates plan to take in response to global warming (60%), actions being taken in their local community in response to global warming (59%), the impacts of global warming on their local community (58%), actions being taken by businesses in response to global warming (58%), impacts of global warming around the world (57%), the causes of global warming (57%), impacts of global warming elsewhere in the U.S. (56%), and actions being taken by foreign governments in response to global warming (55%).
Fewer Americans are interested in news stories about whether global warming is happening (44%), because those who already think global warming is happening are, understandably, less likely to express interest in them.
