Environmental Polling Roundup – January 17, 2025
Headlines
The Economist + YouGov – Around half of Americans say that they’ve personally been impacted by climate change, and three in five expect that they’ll be impacted in their lifetimes [Topline, Crosstabs]
Emerson College – Most voters believe that climate change contributed to California’s recent wildfires [Release]
Data for Progress – Even before the California wildfires, voters overwhelmingly supported government programs to help expand home insurance coverage, help pay for damages from extreme weather events, and invest in disaster preparedness and resilience [Article, Crosstabs]
Key Takeaways
- Democrats and Republicans continue to have very different interpretations of weather disasters. While Democrats and Republicans are both concerned about extreme weather, they have very different beliefs of what’s causing it. Following the devastating recent wildfires in California, surveys by The Economist/YouGov and Emerson College both find that most Americans see a link between climate change and recent wildfires – including the vast majority of Democrats and most independents, but less than half of Republicans.
- Voters across party lines are eager for solutions to the interconnected problems of rising home insurance costs and climate impacts. Whatever their feelings about the causes of extreme weather disasters, bipartisan majorities consistently say that they want the government to invest more in preparing for them. To that end, a recent survey by Data for Progress – which was fielded before the California wildfires – finds that bipartisan majorities support the federal government creating a national insurance fund to cover damages from extreme weather events, funding disaster prevention and extreme weather resilience efforts at the community level, helping to pay for the costs of home insurance for low- and moderate-income households, and directly providing home insurance coverage for extreme weather events.
Good Data Points to Highlight
- [Climate Change] 60% of Americans recognize that the world’s climate is changing as the result of human activity, while 24% say that the world’s climate is changing due to natural causes and just 6% deny that the climate is changing [The Economist + YouGov]
- [Adaptation/Resilience] 74% of voters support the federal government funding disaster prevention and extreme weather resilience efforts at the community level [Data for Progress]
- [Adaptation/Resilience] 71% of voters support the federal government creating a policy that would pay some of the costs of home insurance for low- and moderate-income households [Data for Progress]
- [Adaptation/Resilience] 68% of voters support the federal government creating a national insurance fund to cover damages from extreme weather events [Data for Progress]
- [Adaptation/Resilience] 67% of voters support the federal government providing home insurance coverage for extreme weather events directly to Americans [Data for Progress]
Full Roundup
The Economist + YouGov – Around half of Americans say that they’ve personally been impacted by climate change, and three in five expect that they’ll be impacted in their lifetimes [Topline, Crosstabs]
Outright denial of climate change is exceedingly rare, though Americans aren’t fully convinced that humans are causing it. The majority of Americans (60%) recognize that the world’s climate is changing as a result of human activity, while around one-quarter (24%) believe that the world’s climate is changing due to causes other than human activity. Only 6% of Americans deny that the climate is changing.
Partisanship is by far the biggest predictor of Americans’ climate beliefs. The vast majority of Democrats (86%) and most independents (58%) agree that climate change is happening as a result of human activities, while Republicans are split on whether climate change is caused by humans (39%) or something else (41%).
Half of Americans say that they’ve been impacted by climate change already, while more expect to be impacted in the future. A slight majority (52%) say that they’ve felt the impacts of climate change in their own lives, which is consistent with other public polling as around half the country typically reports having direct experience with climate change.
A larger majority (62%) say that they expect to feel the impacts of climate change within their lifetimes.
Democrats (78%) are more than twice as likely to say that they’ve already been impacted by climate change than Republicans (32%). And while nearly nine in ten Democrats (87%) and most independents (60%) say that they expect to feel the effects of climate change within their lifetimes, less than half of Republicans do (40%).
Most say that climate change is responsible for recent wildfires, though Americans are divided by partisanship on this subject. As we have seen in response to other weather disasters, partisans tend to have very different beliefs about the link between climate change and recent wildfires.
Around three in five Americans (62%) say that climate change is at least “somewhat” responsible for the extent of recent wildfires, including nine in ten Democrats (90%) and the majority of independents (56%) but less than half of Republicans (43%).
Emerson College – Most voters believe that climate change contributed to California’s recent wildfires [Release]
When given a binary choice, most voters say that climate change contributed to California’s wildfire disaster. Similar to what the Economist and YouGov survey found among national adults, Emerson College finds that around three in five voters (58%) believe that climate change contributed to California’s recent wildfires.
The Emerson survey also finds a dramatic partisan split, with more than four in five Democrats (85%) and the majority of independents (54%) saying that climate change played a role in the wildfires while only 36% of Republicans believe so.
Data for Progress – Even before the California wildfires, voters overwhelmingly supported government programs to help expand home insurance coverage, help pay for damages from extreme weather events, and invest in disaster preparedness and resilience [Article, Crosstabs]
Voters are feeling the pinch of higher home insurance costs. The majority of voters (55%) say that the cost of insuring their home or rental has gone up in the last five years, including around two-thirds of homeowners (68%).
And among the 28% of voters who don’t have home or rental insurance, the cost of insurance is the most common rationale for forgoing it.
Voters are eager for government solutions to help with home insurance coverage, including programs to help low- and moderate-income households afford insurance and having the federal government provide insurance for extreme weather events directly. Seven in ten voters (71%), including majorities of Democrats (84%) and Republicans (60%), support the federal government creating a policy to help cover the costs of home insurance for low- and moderate-income households.
Around two-thirds (67%) also support providing home insurance coverage for extreme weather events directly from the federal government, again including majorities of Democrats (80%) and Republicans (56%).
It’s worth noting that this survey was fielded in December, before the recent California wildfires that have destroyed an estimated 10,000 homes.
Funding for disaster relief and preparedness continues to be popular across the political spectrum. Whatever people’s feelings are about the links between climate change and extreme weather, polls consistently show that bipartisan majorities want the government to prioritize funding for weather disasters.
Here, Data for Progress finds that large and bipartisan majorities support each of the following proposals:
- Having the federal government fund disaster prevention and extreme weather resilience efforts at the community level (74% support overall, including 82% of Democrats and 69% of Republicans)
- Creating a national insurance fund to cover damages from extreme weather events, funded through premiums charged to insurance companies by the federal government (68% support overall, including 81% of Democrats and 58% of Republicans)
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