How Americans View Future Harms From Climate Change in Their Community and Around the U.S.
A majority of Americans believe climate change is causing harm to people in the U.S. today and 63% expect things to get worse in their lifetime.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
A majority of Americans believe climate change is causing harm to people in the U.S. today and 63% expect things to get worse in their lifetime.
As the Earth’s temperature continues to rise, climate change remains a lower priority for some Americans, and a subset of the public rejects that it’s happening at all. To better understand the perspectives of those who see less urgency to address climate change, the Center conducted a series of in-depth interviews designed to provide deeper insight into the motivations and views of those most skeptical about climate change.
Large shares of Americans support the U.S. taking steps to address global climate change and prioritize renewable energy development in the country. Still, fewer than half are ready to phase out fossil fuels completely and 59% oppose ending the production of gas-powered cars.
Several climate policies receive bipartisan support, despite Republicans and Democrats differing on the overall approach.
A majority of Americans (69%) say it’s essential for the U.S. to continue to be a world leader in space. As private companies become a bigger part of the industry, the public gives them more positive than negative ratings for their contributions to space exploration and spacecraft development. Still, Americans continue to say NASA has a critical role to play going forward.
Majorities of Americans say the United States should prioritize the development of renewable energy sources and take steps toward the country becoming carbon neutral by the year 2050. But just 31% want to phase out fossil fuels completely, and many foresee unexpected problems in a major transition to renewable energy.
Yet renewable sources, like wind and solar, remain Americans’ overall priority for domestic production.
The share of Americans who say science has had a mostly positive impact on society has fallen 16 percentage points since before the start of the coronavirus outbreak, from 73% in January 2019 to 57% today.
Majorities of Americans support an array of measures to address climate change but stop short of a full break with fossil fuels.
Majorities across 20 publics say government investments in scientific research are worthwhile and express a lot or some confidence in scientists to do what is right for the public.
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