- About seven in ten Americans (72%) think global warming is happening. Only about one in eight Americans (12%) think global warming is not happening. Americans who think global warming is happening outnumber those who think it isn’t by a 6 to 1 ratio.
- About half of Americans are certain that global warming is happening; 52% are “extremely” or “very” sure it is happening. By contrast, far fewer (7%) are “extremely” or “very” sure global warming is not happening.
- About six in ten Americans (59%) understand that global warming is mostly human-caused. By contrast, three in ten (30%) think it is due mostly to natural changes in the environment.
- More than half of Americans (55%) understand that most scientists think global warming is happening. However, only about one in five (22%) understand how strong the level of consensus among scientists is (i.e., that more than 90% of climate scientists think human-caused global warming is happening).
- Two in three Americans (66%) say they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming. Three in ten (30%) are “very worried” about it.
- More than six in ten Americans (64%) say they feel at least “moderately interested” in global About half say they feel “helpless” (53%) or “disgusted” (50%).
- Nearly half of Americans (46%) say they have personally experienced the effects of global warming.
- More than four in ten Americans (45%) think people in the United States are being harmed by global warming “right now.”
- More than four in ten Americans (43%) think they will be harmed by global warming, while more think their family (49%) will be harmed. Half or more Americans think global warming will harm people in their community (51%), people in the U.S. (65%), the world’s poor (66%), people in developing countries (68%), future generations of people (72%), and/or plant and animal species (73%).
- Two in three Americans (67%) say the issue of global warming is either “extremely,” “very,” or “somewhat” important to them personally, while one in three (33%) say it is either “not too” or “not at all” personally important.
- About six in ten Americans (59%) say they “rarely” or “never” discuss global warming with family and friends, while 41% say they do so “occasionally” or “often.”
- More than half of Americans (56%) say they hear about global warming in the media at least once a month and more than four in ten (44%) say they have seen more media coverage of global warming over the past year. Fewer (24%) say they hear people they know talking about global warming at least once a month.
- Fewer than half of Americans perceive a social norm in which their friends and family expect them to take action on global warming. Forty-three percent think it is at least moderately important to their family and friends that they take action (an injunctive norm), and four in ten (40%) say their family and friends make at least a moderate amount of effort to reduce global warming (a descriptive norm).
- Few Americans (12%) think it is too late to do anything about global warming, while two in three (66%) disagree that it is too late. About half of Americans (48%) think new technologies can solve global warming without individuals having to make big changes in their lives.
- More than six in ten Americans (64%) think global warming is affecting weather in the United States, and about three in ten think weather is being affected “a lot” (31%).
- Half or more Americans think global warming made several extreme weather-related events worse in 2019 including melting of the Greenland ice sheets (64%), European heat waves (55%), and California wildfires (50%).
- A majority of Americans are worried about harm from extreme events in their local area including extreme heat (64%), droughts (60%), flooding (58%), and/or water shortages (54%).
- A majority of Americans (56%) think extreme weather poses a risk to their community.
Please note: In consultation with independent statisticians and survey methodologists, we and Ipsos KnowledgePanel® (our survey provider) slightly modified the sampling method for our current and future surveys beginning in the Spring of 2019. In the past, KnowledgePanel® members who had participated in one of our prior surveys were not eligible to participate in any subsequent Climate Change in the American Mind studies. Details about our modified sampling method are described in Appendix II.