Report · Feb 10, 2021
Climate Change in the American Mind: December 2020
By Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Seth Rosenthal, John Kotcher, Jennifer Carman, Xinran Wang, Matthew Goldberg, Karine Lacroix and Jennifer Marlon
Filed under: Beliefs & Attitudes
3. Emotional Responses to Global Warming
3.1 Two in three Americans are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming.
Two in three Americans (66%) say they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming, an increase of nine percentage points over the past five years (since October 2015). About one in four Americans (27%) are “very worried,” an increase of 11 percentage points over the past five years.
3.2 About six in ten Americans are “interested” in global warming.
When asked how strongly they feel various emotions when thinking about global warming, about six in ten Americans say they feel “very” or “moderately” “interested” in it (61%). Four in ten or more say they feel “hopeful” (43%), “disgusted” (42%), or “helpless” (41%).
Fewer Americans feel “afraid” (37%), “angry” (37%), “outraged” (36%), “anxious” (31%), “hopeless” (29%), “confused” (29%), “guilty” (23%), “depressed” (22%), or “panicked” (19%).
