Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Spring 2024
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014
Publisher Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Publication: Critical Science Newswire
Original Link: https://ncse.ngo/climate-change-american-mind-beliefs-attitudes-spring-2024
Publication Date: July 19, 2024
Organization: National Center for Science Education
Organization Description: The National Center for Science Education promotes and defends accurate and effective science education because everyone deserves to engage with the evidence. One day, students of all ages will be scientifically literate, teachers will be prepared and empowered to teach accurate science, and scientific thinking and decision-making will ensure that all life can thrive and overcome challenges to our shared future.
By Glenn Branch
Seven in 10 Americans think that global warming is happening, and about six in 10 understand that it is mostly owing to human activity, but only about one in five know that nearly all climate scientists agree about the human cause of global warming. Those were among the key findings of “Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Spring 2024” (PDF).
Presented with a definition of global warming as “the idea that the world’s average temperature has been increasing over the past 150 years, may be increasing more in the future, and that the world’s climate may change as a result” and asked whether they thought that global warming is happening, 70% of respondents said yes, 13% said no, and 17% indicated that they didn’t know.
Asked about the cause of global warming, on the assumption that it is happening, 59% of respondents said that it is caused mostly by human activities, 29% said that it is caused mostly by natural changes in the environment, 6% opted for “neither because global warming isn’t happening,” and 4% said that it was a mix of human activities and natural causes.
Asked to indicate “what percentage of climate scientists think that human-caused global warming is happening,” only 21% of respondents selected a value between 91% and 100% — the correct range, as repeated independent studies have demonstrated. In the first year in which the question was asked, 2013, only 6% of respondents selected the correct range.
The study was conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. The survey was administered in a web-based environment from April 25 to May 4, 2024, using an on-line research panel of 1031 American adults.
According to the report, the sample “includes a representative cross-section of American adults — irrespective of whether they have Internet access, use only a cell phone, etc. Key demographic variables were weighted, post survey, to match U.S. Census Bureau norms.” The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3% at the 95% confidence level.
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 