Report · Feb 13, 2025
Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Fall 2024
By Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Seth Rosenthal, John Kotcher, Emily Goddard, Jennifer Carman, Teresa Myers, Marija Verner, Jennifer Marlon, Matthew Goldberg, Joshua Ettinger, Julia Fine and Kathryn Thier
Filed under: Beliefs & Attitudes, Climate Impacts and Behaviors & Actions
2. Perceived Risks of Global Warming
2.1 About half of Americans say they have personally experienced the effects of global warming.
About half of Americans (49%) agree with the statement “I have personally experienced the effects of global warming,” while half (50%) disagree.
2.2 Many Americans think people in the U.S. are being harmed “right now” by global warming.
About half of Americans (48%) 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. Half or more Americans think global warming will cause either “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” of harm to future generations of people (71%), plant and animal species (70%), the world’s poor (68%), people in developing countries (68%), people in the United States (63%), people in their community (53%), and their family (51%). Many Americans also think they themselves (46%) will be harmed.
2.4 About one in ten Americans have considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming.
Climate change is increasingly causing impacts that could lead people to consider relocating. These include rising sea levelsHauer, 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, floods, wildfires, droughts, and extreme heat. We find that 11% of Americans have considered moving to avoid the impacts of global warming, while 81% have not, and 8% are not sure.
