Climate Change in the American Mind: Americans’ Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in March 2012

Executive Summary

Beliefs and Attitudes

• Since November 2011, public belief that global warming is happening increased by 3 points,
  to 66 percent. However, belief that it is caused mostly by human activities decreased four
  points, to 46 percent.
• Americans continue to think global warming will harm plant and animal species (64%),
  future generations of people (65%), and people in developing countries (52%) more than
  people in the United States (46%), people in their community (34%), their family (33%), or
  themselves personally (29%).
• 42 percent of Americans think global warming is harming people in the United States now
  (30%) or will within the next 10 years (12%). By contrast, 45 percent say global warming
  won’t start to harm people in the United States for 50 years (14%), 100 years (15%), or ever
  (16%).
• 54 percent of Americans worry about global warming, while 61 percent say the issue is
  personally important to them, both essentially unchanged since November.
• Since November, however, there has been a 6 point decrease (to 35%) in the proportion of
  Americans who believe that most scientists think global warming is happening, with a 2
  point increase (to 41%) in those who believe there is a lot of disagreement among scientists.
• A large majority of Americans (70%) say they need “a lot” (19%), “some” (28%), or “a
  little” (23%) more information before they make up their mind about global warming.
• A large majority (80%) say they have not changed their opinions about global warming in the
  past year or two, but 9 percent say they have, while 11 percent say they don’t know.
• Since November, Americans have become more polarized in their views of the efficacy of
  individual action, with a 7 point increase (to 18%) in those who strongly agree that “the
  actions of a single individual won’t make any difference in global warming” while those who
  strongly disagree with this statement also increased by 6 points to 21 percent.
• Since November, Americans have also become more skeptical that “new technologies can
  solve global warming, without individuals having to make big changes in their lives” with a
  12 point increase in those who strongly disagree with this statement (to 28%).
• In a new question to assess Americans’ perceptions of public opinion on this issue, we asked
  respondents to estimate how many of their fellow Americans hold several key beliefs about
  global warming. On average:
  • Respondents correctly estimated that 38 percent of Americans believe global warming is happening due mostly to human activities.1
  • Respondents correctly estimated that 20 percent of Americans haven’t yet made up their mind about whether or not global warming is happening.
  • Respondents incorrectly estimated that 21 percent of Americans don’t believe that global warming is happening – an overestimate of 7 points (it’s actually 14%).
  • Respondents incorrectly estimated that 25 percent of Americans believe that global warming is happening due mostly to natural causes – an overestimate of 6 points (it’s actually 19%).

Trust

• Large majorities of Americans continue to trust climate scientists (74%), other kinds of
  scientists (65%), and television weather reporters (62%) as sources of information about
  global warming. The mainstream news media is trusted by 43 percent.
• President Obama is trusted by 47 percent of Americans, while Mitt Romney is trusted by
  only 21 percent as a source of information about global warming. Since November, trust in
  President Obama has held steady, while trust in Mitt Romney dropped by 5 points, with
  “strong distrust” increasing by 8 points to 39 percent.
• Only 24 percent of Americans trust consumer good companies (e.g., Levi-Strauss, Nike, and
  Avon), 20 percent trust car companies (e.g., GM and Toyota) (20%), and only 13 percent
  trust oil, gas and coal companies (e.g., ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy) as sources of
  information about global warming.

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Interview dates: March 12, 2012 – March 30, 2012 Interviews: 1,008 Adults (18+)
Margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
NOTE: All results show percentages among all respondents, unless otherwise labeled. Totals may
occasionally sum to more than 100 percent due to rounding.

This study was conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George
Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, and was funded by the Surdna
Foundation, the 11th Hour Project, the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the
Environment, and the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation.

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Principal Investigators:

Anthony Leiserowitz, PhD
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University
(203) 432-4865 anthony.leiserowitz@yale.edu

Edward Maibach, MPH, PhD
Center for Climate Change Communication
Department of Communication, George Mason University
(703) 993-1587 emaibach@gmu.edu

Connie Roser-Renouf, PhD
Center for Climate Change Communication
Department of Communication, George Mason University
(707) 825-0601 croserre@gmu.edu

Jay D. Hmielowski, PhD
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University
(203) 432-0773 jay.hmielowski@yale.edu

Cite as: Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., & Hmielowski, J. D. (2012) Climate change in
the American Mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in March 2012. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.
http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/Climate-Beliefs-March-2012.pdf