Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

4. Personal and Social Engagement with Global Warming

4.1 About half of Americans have thought about global warming “a lot” or “some.”

About half of Americans (52%) say they have thought about global warming “before today,” either “a lot” (23%) or “some” (29%). Fewer say they have thought about global warming “a little” (29%) or “not at all” (18%).

4.2 Most Americans “rarely” or “never” discuss global warming with family and friends.

A majority of Americans (65%) say they either “rarely” (32%) or “never” (33%) discuss global warming with family and friends (refer to data tables, p. 63). In comparison, 35% say they discuss it either “occasionally” (31%) or “often” (4%).

4.3 Fewer than half of Americans perceive social norms for taking action on global warming.

Social science research has shown that two types of social norms can have a powerful influence on people’s behavior: injunctive norms (the belief that friends and family expect you to behave in a given way) and descriptive norms (the belief that friends and family are themselves behaving in that way).Schultz, P. W., Nolan, J. M., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J., & Griskevicius, V. (2007). The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychological Science, 18(5), 429-434. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01917.x

More than one-third of Americans (39%) perceive an injunctive norm, saying it is either “extremely” (4%), “very” (10%), or “moderately” (25%) important to their family and friends that they take action to reduce global warming. Similarly, 35% perceive a descriptive norm, saying their family and friends make either “a great deal of effort” (2%), “a lot of effort” (6%), or “a moderate amount of effort” (26%) to reduce global warming.

4.4 More than one-third of Americans hear about global warming in the media at least once a month; fewer hear about it on social media or hear people they know talking about it.

More than one-third of Americans (37%; a decrease of 10 percentage points since we last asked this question in Fall 2024) say they hear about global warming in the media once a month or more often, while 53% say they hear about global warming in the media several times a year or less often (+12 percentage points).

In contrast, only 23% of Americans say they hear about global warming on social media once a month or more often, while 60% say they do so several times a year or less often, including 31% who say they never hear about global warming on social media. Similarly, only 17% of Americans say they hear people they know talk about global warming once a month or more often, while 75% say they do so several times a year or less often, including 33% who say they never hear people they know talk about global warming.

4.5 A majority of Americans say the issue of global warming is personally important to them.

A majority of Americans (64%) say the issue of global warming is either “extremely” (12%), “very” (21%), or “somewhat” (31%) important to them personally (refer to data tables, p. 69). Fewer (36%) say global warming is either “not too” (18%) or “not at all” (18%) personally important.

4.6 A majority of Americans feel a personal sense of responsibility to help reduce global warming.

A majority of Americans (61%) agree either “strongly” (18%) or “somewhat” (43%) that they feel a personal sense of responsibility to help reduce global warming.

4.7 About three in ten Americans say they have engaged in consumer activism on global warming.

About three in ten Americans (29%) say that at least “once” over the past 12 months, they have rewarded companies that are taking steps to reduce global warming by buying their products. One-quarter (25%) say that at least “once” over the past 12 months, they have punished companies that are opposing steps to reduce global warming by not buying their products.