Report · Feb 16, 2023
Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, December 2022
By Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Seth Rosenthal, John Kotcher, Jennifer Carman, Marija Verner, Sanguk Lee, Matthew Ballew, Sri Saahitya Uppalapati, Eryn Campbell, Teresa Myers, Matthew Goldberg and Jennifer Marlon
Filed under: Beliefs & Attitudes and Climate Impacts
2. Perceived Risks of Global Warming
2.1. Many Americans say they have personally experienced the effects of global warming.
Many Americans (47%) agree with the statement “I have personally experienced the effects of global warming,” while 53% disagree.
2.2. About half of Americans think people in the U.S. are being harmed “right now” by global warming.
About half of Americans (49%) think people in the U.S. are being harmed by global warming “right now.”
2.3. Many Americans think global warming will harm them, but more think others will be harmed.
A majority of Americans understand that global warming will cause harm. Americans are most likely to think plant and animal species (70%), future generations of people (68%) the world’s poor and people in developing countries (both 66%), and people in the U.S. (62%) will be harmed either “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” by global warming. Fewer think people in their community (50%), their family (48%), or they themselves (44%) will be harmed.
2.4. One in ten Americans have considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming.
Research indicatesHauer, M. E. (2017). Migration induced by sea-level rise could reshape the US population landscape. Nature Climate Change, 7(5), 321-325. doi:10.1038/nclimate3271 that an increasing number of people in the United States may be considering moving away from areas particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. We find that 10% of Americans have considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming, while 82% have not, and 8% are not sure.
