Report · Jun 9, 2026
Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Spring 2026
By Anthony Leiserowitz, John Kotcher, Seth Rosenthal, Emily Goddard, Joshua Ettinger, Teresa Myers, Jennifer Carman, Marija Verner, Julia Fine, Emily Richards, Matthew Goldberg, Jennifer Marlon and Edward Maibach
Filed under: Policy & Politics
11. Information About Global Warming
11.1 Registered voters trust family & friends, climate scientists, their primary care doctor, and TV weather reporters most as sources of information about global warming.
A majority of registered voters “strongly” or “somewhat” trust climate scientists (71%), family and friends (69%), their primary care doctor (65%), television weather reporters (63%), and local news organizations (54%) as sources of information about global warming. Fewer trust national news organizations (46%), artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots (24%), or social media posts (18%).
Of the people and institutions we included, each political ideology group expresses the most trust in the same four people/institutions, although in somewhat different orders. Liberal Democrats trust climate scientists the most (93%), followed by TV weather reporters (87%), family and friends (84%), and their primary care doctor (79%). Moderate/conservative Democrats also trust climate scientists the most (89%), followed by TV weather reporters (82%), family and friends (77%), and their primary care doctor (76%). Liberal/moderate Republicans trust climate scientists the most as well (64%), followed by family and friends (59%), their primary care doctor (55%), and TV weather reporters (47%). Conservative Republicans trust family and friends the most (55%), followed by their primary care doctor (49%), climate scientists (44%), and TV weather reporters (36%).
11.2 About half of registered voters are interested in news stories about topics related to global warming.
A majority of registered voters are at least “moderately” interested in news stories about issues related to global warming, including how global warming is affecting the cost of living (56%), actions being taken that make global warming worse (54%), actions that are being taken by businesses in response to global warming (53%), and actions being taken by the U.S. government in response to global warming (53%).
About half of registered voters are interested in news stories about the impacts of global warming on their local community (51%), actions being taken in their local community in response to global warming (50%), the impacts of global warming around the world (50%), actions being taken by foreign governments in response to global warming (49%), the impacts of global warming elsewhere in the U.S. (49%), the causes of global warming (49%), and actions being taken to oppose solutions to global warming (48%). Fewer registered voters are interested in news stories about whether global warming is or is not happening (38%), at least in part because those who already think global warming is happening are, understandably, less likely to express interest in them.
Liberal Democrats are generally the most interested in news stories about each topic, followed by moderate/conservative Democrats, and liberal/moderate Republicans. Only about one-quarter or fewer conservative Republicans are interested in such news stories. Moderate/conservative Democrats are the group most interested in news stories about whether global warming is or is not happening (58%).
