Share of Americans attributing extreme weather to climate change jumped 10 points this summer
BY ZACK BUDRYK - 09/25/23 12:31 PM ET
Share of Americans attributing extreme weather to climate change jumped 10 points this summer
BY ZACK BUDRYK - 09/25/23 12:31 PM ET
Nearly 90 percent of Americans say they have experienced extreme weather, and more than 60 percent attribute it at least in part to climate change, a 10-point increase from those who blamed climate change months ago.
An Associated Press/NORC poll found 87 percent of Americans have experienced one or more extreme weather events in the past five years. Just under two-thirds of Americans — 64 percent — say they’ve dealt with extreme weather and believe human climate change is at least in part responsible, compared to 54 percent who said the same thing in April.
The share of Americans who report experiencing extreme heat in the past five years increased even more dramatically since April, going from 55 percent to 74 percent. In the interim was a three-month period, from June to August, that the World Meteorological Organization has determined is the warmest such period ever recorded.
The vast majority of adults, 74 percent, acknowledge the fact of climate change, including 61 percent who believe it is predominantly the result of human activity and 10 percent who believe it to be a naturally occurring phenomenon. Twenty-nine percent attributed climate change equally to human and natural factors.
The polling also found a partisan divide on the issue. Seventy-four percent of Democrats say their concerns about climate change have increased over the past year, compared to 29 percent of Republicans who say the same. Ninety-one percent of Democrats said climate change is at least in part caused by humans, compared to 64 percent of independents and 37 percent of Republicans.
This comes as GOP presidential candidates have largely shrugged off the issue on the campaign trail despite this year’s extreme weather. At the first Republican primary debate last month, none of the candidates onstage raised their hand when asked if they acknowledged climate change, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy called the “climate change agenda” a “hoax.”
Republicans in the poll were more likely than the general population, Democrats or independents to believe climate change is not happening at all, with 26 percent expressing that view.
Although climate change consistently ranks among younger voters’ top concerns, the poll found adults of at least 60 are more likely than younger adults to report becoming more concerned about climate change in the last year.