Erick Burgueño Salas
Research expert covering climate change and the water industry
Public opinion on climate change in the U.S. - statistics & facts
Half of the population in the U.S. is already feeling the effects of climate change, found a survey carried out in the spring of 2024. In fact, the share of respondents who stated that they experienced the effects of global warming has increased by more than 10 percentage points in the past decade. As weather-related catastrophes become more recurrent and intense, most U.S. Americans cannot help but agree that climate change is here to stay, and there is a public consensus that not enough is being done to reduce its effects.
Furthermore, in a different survey in October 2023, U.S. citizens were asked their support for a carbon tax for fossil fuel companies. Two out of every three respondents supported this measure, with higher support in more liberal states like New York and California. While such encouragement might have been fueled by an assumed equal reduction in other taxes, it is nonetheless a clear sign of support for climate accountability by big oil companies.
Despite opinion differences, climate change is a big concern for U.S. Americans, and how to tackle it is set to be a public priority in the years to come. In fact, almost two-thirds of respondents in the U.S. were in favor of taking steps to become carbon-neutral by 2050, a perception that the second-biggest GHG emitter in the world will have to consider for future action.
Efforts to mitigate climate change
Although roughly six out of 10 U.S. Americans are still not convinced that the government’s efforts to tackle the climate emergency are enough, a considerable share is optimistic about the different mitigation strategies. For instance, 64 percent of adults interviewed in May 2024 agreed that the most important priority for addressing energy supply should be expanding renewable energy production. Nevertheless, less than 30 percent of respondents in the U.S. were confident about a complete phasing out of fossil fuels. Meanwhile, the majority supported a less drastic approach, favoring the use of a mix of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources.Furthermore, in a different survey in October 2023, U.S. citizens were asked their support for a carbon tax for fossil fuel companies. Two out of every three respondents supported this measure, with higher support in more liberal states like New York and California. While such encouragement might have been fueled by an assumed equal reduction in other taxes, it is nonetheless a clear sign of support for climate accountability by big oil companies.
Opinions on the media coverage
As of April 2024, 70 percent of respondents in the U.S. believed global warming was happening. With such high concern for the topic comes a myriad of media sources with often diverging opinions, making it hard for viewers to identify whom to trust. Around a fifth of news audiences in the U.S. encountered information about climate change they believed to be false on online media, in part due to a lack of proper fact-checking and the ease of manipulation by anyone with access to the internet. Conversely, more traditional media like newspapers and the radio were considered less mined with false information.Despite opinion differences, climate change is a big concern for U.S. Americans, and how to tackle it is set to be a public priority in the years to come. In fact, almost two-thirds of respondents in the U.S. were in favor of taking steps to become carbon-neutral by 2050, a perception that the second-biggest GHG emitter in the world will have to consider for future action.
