Yale Project on Climate Change Communication

Americans Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in March 2012

Highlights:

• 66 percent of Americans believe global warming is happening (a 3% increase since November 2011), but the proportion who said global warming is caused by human activities decreased from 50 to 46 percent.
• While only 14 percent of Americans said they do not believe global warming is happening, respondents incorrectly estimated that 21 percent of Americans do not believe in global warming.
• 47 percent of respondents said they trust President Obama as a source of global warming information.
• Only 21 percent, however, trust former governor Mitt Romney, whose trust levels have dropped 5 points since November 2011, with "strong distrust" increasing 8 points to 39 percent.

Public Support for Climate & Energy Policies in March 2012

Highlights:

Majorities of Americans say that global warming and clean energy should be among the nation's priorities, want more action by elected officials, corporations, and citizens themselves, and support a variety of climate change and energy policies, including holding fossil fuel companies responsible for all the "hidden costs" of their products. A majority also say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports a "revenue neutral" tax shift from income taxes to fossil fuels, and that global warming will be one of the issues that determines their vote for President this fall.

Public Support for Climate and Energy Policies in March 2012 reports results from a nationally representative survey of 1,008 American adults, aged 18 and older, fielded March 12 through March 30, 2012, using the online research panel of Knowledge Networks. The report includes measures of public priorities for global warming and clean energy, desired action from elected officials, corporations, and citizens, support and opposition to climate and energy policies, and voting intentions. The report also includes a breakdown of responses among registered voters by political party.

Extreme Weather, Climate & Preparedness

Highlights:

• 82 percent of Americans report that they personally experienced one or more types of extreme weather or a natural disaster in the past year;
• 35 percent of all Americans report that they were personally harmed either a great deal or a moderate amount by one or more of these extreme weather events in the past year;
• Over the past several years, Americans say the weather in the U.S. has been getting worse – rather than better – by a margin of over 2 to 1 (52% vs. 22%);
• A large majority of Americans believe that global warming made several high profile extreme weather events worse, including the unusually warm winter of December 2011 and January 2012 (72%), record high summer temperatures in the U.S. in 2011 (70%), the drought in Texas and Oklahoma in 2011 (69%), record snowfall in the U.S. in 2010 and 2011 (61%), the Mississippi River floods in the spring of 2011 (63%), and Hurricane Irene (59%);
• Only 36 percent of Americans have a disaster emergency plan that all members of their family know about or an emergency supply kit in their home (37%).

The New York Times article on this report: In Poll, Many Link Weather Extremes to Climate Change.

Extreme Weather, Climate & Preparedness in the American Mind reports results from a nationally representative survey of 1,008 American adults, aged 18 and older, fielded March 12 through March 30, 2012, using the online research panel of Knowledge Networks. The report includes measures of public observations and experiences of weather, opinions about the links between global warming and particular extreme weather events, levels of household preparedness, and use of local weather forecasts.

Nuclear Power in the American Mind

Today marks the 1-year anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. The nuclear meltdowns, plant explosions, and release of radioactive material at Fukushima refocused world attention on the risks of nuclear power and caused many ripple effects, including shifts in public perceptions of this technology.

How did American images of nuclear power change in response to the Fukushima disaster? Click the chart below to learn more.

Do Americans support or oppose subsidies for fossil fuels?

In his new proposed federal budget, President Obama today called on Congress to repeal more than $4 billion a year in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, arguing that these “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies…impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to address the threat of climate change."

As of November 2011, a large majority of Americans (70%) also opposed federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry (coal, oil, and natural gas), including majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents:

Source: Public Support for Climate & Energy Policies in November 2011