Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

Reading Notes

• Sections 1 and 2 of this report focus on Americans’ overall beliefs and attitudes regarding climate justice, and thus include results from all survey Sections 3 and 4 focus on Americans’ policy support and political behaviors regarding climate justice, and thus include results from registered voters only.
• References to Republicans and Democrats throughout include respondents who initially identify as either a Republican or Democrat, as well as those who do not initially identify as a Republican or Democrat but who say they “are closer to” one of those parties (i.e., “leaners”) in a follow-up question. The category “Independents” does not include any of these “leaners.”
• For tabulation purposes, percentage points are rounded to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given chart may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. Summed response categories (e.g., “strongly support” + “somewhat support”) are rounded after sums are calculated. For example, in some cases, the sum of 25% + 25% might be accurately reported as 51% (e.g., 25.3% + 25.3% = 50.6%, which, after rounding, is 51%).
• Weighted percentages among respondents from each of the groups discussed in this report include (weighted percentages of registered voters are in parentheses):
  • Democrats (total) including leaners: 44% of Americans (49% of registered voters)
    • Liberal Democrats: 25% of Americans (28% of registered voters)
    • Moderate/Conservative Democrats: 19% of Americans (21% of registered voters)
  • Republicans (total) including leaners: 33% of Americans (36% of registered voters)
    • Liberal/Moderate Republicans: 12% of Americans (13% of registered voters)
    • Conservative Republicans: 21% of Americans (23% of registered voters)
  • Independents excluding leaners (included the data tables only; pp. 22-29): 13% of Americans (11% of registered voters)
  • No party/Not interested in politics/No response (included the data tables only; pp. 22-29): 10% of Americans (3% of registered voters)
• The full text of all survey items can be found in the data tables.
• The terms “people of color” and “communities of color” in this report refer to non-white Black Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, etc., similar to the term of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). We recognize that there is significant diversity among and within the racial and ethnic groups that fall under the umbrella of “people of color.” Moreover, although the report mentions low-income communities and communities of color separately, we recognize that these two groups can and do overlap.