Majorities of Americans say the federal government is doing little to protect water and air quality | Pew Research Center

May 27, 2026

Americans Are Increasingly Pessimistic About Avoiding the Worst Effects of Climate Change

Majorities of Americans say the federal government is doing little to protect water and air quality

Majorities of Americans say the federal government is doing little to protect water and air quality

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Majorities of Americans say the federal government is doing little to protect water and air quality

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Americans Are Increasingly Pessimistic About Avoiding the Worst Effects of Climate Change
Most Democrats now don’t expect U.S. and world actors will do enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change
Democrats and Republicans disagree on how much climate change is harming the U.S. today
About half of young Republicans say the federal government is doing too little on climate change
Many Americans say companies can do a lot to reduce the impact of climate change; fewer say the same of ordinary people
Smaller shares say new tech will address climate change, compared with major everyday life changes
Majorities of Americans say the federal government is doing little to protect water and air quality
Somewhat more Democrats say the federal government under Trump is doing too little to protect the environment than said this under Biden