More Americans Are Concerned About Climate Change Than You Think

Almost half of Americans are very concerned about climate change, yet only 14% think others around them are very concerned. Very few report that friends and family are influencing their climate concern. Rather, nearly 4 in 5 say changing seasonal weather patterns are the culprit. Pluralistic ignorance may be at play, which would explain why Americans aren’t vocalizing their concern to others — they believe the people around them don’t feel the same. Learn more about ecoAmerica’s findings in this latest American Climate Perspectives Survey. Read the full report here.

Despite the misconception that so few are concerned, over 2 in 5 Americans report that in the past year they have become more concerned about climate change. A larger percentage of Democrats report being more concerned.  Notably, nearly 1 in 4 Republicans also report growing climate concern. 

ecoAmerica’s research reveals that Americans are not satisfied with the action their communities are taking on climate change. In 2021, 70% of Americans said they thought it was their local communities’ responsibility to address climate change. Yet, only a mere 21% report satisfaction, which is a call to action for local and regional government to raise ambition, action, and speed on solutions.

Local communities can lead on climate solutions. Learn how local communities can take action here.

Full data featured in this blog is available in the accompanying toplines.

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Methodology

ecoAmerica designed and administered this survey, which was conducted online on December 22, 2021 using Survey Monkey. The survey yielded a total of 1,067 complete adult responses. The sample was drawn from an online panel and the respondents were screened to ensure that they were over the age of 18. The margin of error for the sample is +/-3%. In interpreting the survey results, it is important to note that all sample surveys are subject to possible sampling error. Thus, the results of a survey may differ from the results that would be obtained if the entire population was interviewed. The size of the sampling error depends upon both the total number of respondents in the survey and the percentage distribution of the responses to a particular question. For example, if 50% of the respondents in a sample of 1,067 respondents answered, “Yes” to a particular question, we can be 95% confident that the true percentage would fall within 3 points, or range from 47% to 53%.

Suggested Citation

Speiser, M., Hill, A. N. (January, 2022). American Climate Perspectives Survey 2022. More Americans Are Concerned About Climate Change Than You Think. ecoAmerica. Washington, DC.

© 2022 ecoAmerica. The contents of this report may be shared and used under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

For more information contact us at research@ecoAmerica.org.
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