Environmental Polling Roundup – January 30, 2026
Headlines
Yale + GMU – Steady majorities of Americans say that global warming is happening and caused by humans; Americans continue to associate global warming more with extreme heat and wildfires than with other types of extreme weather [Website, Full Report]
YouGov – Americans say that the country is doing too little to protect the environment, and prefer for a wide range of environmental regulations to be strengthened rather than weakened [Release, Topline]
The Economist + YouGov – The majority of Americans say that the federal government should increase what it spends on the environment [Topline, Crosstabs]
Key Takeaways
Most Americans agree that the government isn’t doing enough to protect the environment. YouGov finds that most Americans want the government to do more to protect the environment in general, and a separate Economist/YouGov poll this week finds that most Americans want to increase federal spending on the environment when asked about various budget priorities.
In addition, YouGov asked whether regulations should be increased, decreased, or kept the same in more than a dozen areas related to energy and the environment–such as greenhouse gas emissions, oil drilling, vehicle emissions, and single-use plastics. For every single topic, more Americans said that the government should increase than decrease regulations. These policy preferences stand in stark contrast to the actions of Trump’s EPA, which has proudly touted the “biggest deregulatory action” in U.S. history.
And while it’s safe to assume that the full extent of the federal government’s environmental rollbacks aren’t breaking through to the public, there are indications that Americans view Trump as doing a particularly poor job handling environmental issues. The Economist and YouGov find that only around one-third of Americans approve of how Trump is handling the environment, and he is even further underwater on his specific handling of the environment than in his overall job approval.
Americans underestimate how concerned the rest of the country is about climate change. Yale and GMU find that 64% of Americans are at least “somewhat” worried about global warming. However, when they are asked to estimate the percentage of Americans who are worried about global warming, only 15% guess that the percentage is higher than 60% and only 26% guess that a majority of Americans are worried about it.
This systematic underestimation of the public’s concern about climate change is a consistent finding in polling, and one that it’s worthwhile to correct to make Americans more comfortable speaking out and engaging in advocacy on the issue.
Good Data Points to Highlight
[Climate Change] 72% of Americans recognize that global warming is happening, while just 13% deny it [Yale + GMU]
[Climate Change] 64% of Americans recognize that global warming is affecting weather in the United States [Yale + GMU]
[Climate Change] 60% of Americans recognize that the world’s climate is changing as a result of human activity [The Economist + YouGov]
[Solar] 62% of Americans say that the U.S. should be using more solar energy [YouGov]
[Government Action] 55% of Americans believe that the government isn’t doing enough to protect the environment, while just 9% say that the government is doing too much [YouGov]
[Government Action] 55% of Americans say that the federal government should increase what it spends on the environment, while just 19% want to decrease spending on it [The Economist + YouGov]
Full Roundup
Yale + GMU – Steady majorities of Americans say that global warming is happening and caused by humans; Americans continue to associate global warming more with extreme heat and wildfires than with other types of extreme weather [Website, Full Report]
Steady majorities of Americans say that global warming is happening and caused by humans. This latest wave of Yale and GMU’s long-running “Climate Change in the American Mind” study, which was fielded in November, finds that Americans are more than five times as likely to believe that global warming is happening (72%) than to deny it (13%). The percentage who recognize that global warming is happening is slightly higher than what Yale and GMU found in their previous wave of the study in May 2025 (69%).
Yale and GMU further find that Americans are twice as likely to say that global warming is mostly caused by humans (58%) than to say that it’s mostly caused by natural changes in the environment (29%). Yale and GMU’s tracking over time has found a gradual, long-term increase in the percentage of Americans who believe in human-caused global warming over the past 15 years, though that percentage has stabilized around 60% in recent waves of the study.
Around half of Americans say that they’ve personally felt the impacts of global warming. Just under half of Americans (47%) report personal experience with the effects of global warming. As with recognition of human-caused global warming, Yale and GMU have found that the percentage who report being impacted by global warming has grown steadily over the past 15 years but has leveled off in recent years.
Americans underestimate both how much scientists agree on global warming and how much the public cares about it. While the majority of Americans (57%) recognize that most scientists are in agreement that global warming is happening, nearly one-quarter (23%) incorrectly believe that “there is a lot of disagreement” among scientists about whether or not global warming is happening.
In addition to underestimating the scientific consensus about global warming, the American public underestimates how much their fellow Americans agree on and care about the issue. Yale and GMU find that 64% of Americans are at least “somewhat” worried about global warming. However, when they are asked to estimate the percentage of Americans who are worried about global warming, only 15% guess that the percentage is higher than 60% and only 26% guess that a majority of Americans are worried about the issue.
This disconnect between individuals’ concern about climate change and the perceived concerns of their fellow Americans is a consistent finding in research. ecoAmerica found in 2023, for example, that Americans were twice as likely to say that they were “very” concerned about climate change than to say that people around them were “very” concerned about the issue.
As long as this disconnect persists, Americans are likely to feel more alone in their concerns than they really are. This makes it worthwhile for advocates both to lift up national polling that shows that large majorities of Americans care about the issue and to amplify local organizing and action, particularly in more conservative areas, to show climate-conscious Americans that there are like-minded people in their own communities.
Americans expect that global warming will have the greatest impact on future generations and the world’s poor. Americans are much more likely to anticipate serious climate harms for future generations, the world’s poor, and for the U.S. on the whole than they are to expect serious harms to their own communities and lives. Below are the percentages who believe that global warming will cause at least a “moderate amount” of harm to various groups of people:
- Future generations of people – 68% at least “moderate” harm
- The world’s poor – 64%
- People in developing countries – 62%
- People in the United States – 60%
- People in your community – 48%
- Your family – 48%
- You personally – 44%
Most Americans understand that global warming affects the weather. More than three in five (64%) believe that global warming is affecting weather in the United States, including about three in ten (31%) who say that global warming is affecting the weather “a lot.”
Americans continue to associate global warming more with extreme heat and wildfires than with other types of extreme weather. Research has long shown that Americans perceive the most intuitive connection between climate change and hot, dry weather events. This continues to be the case in Yale and GMU’s polling, as they find that Americans are more likely to link global warming with extreme heat and wildfires than with other weather events and environmental problems:
- Extreme heat – 62% say that global warming is having at least “some” impact
- Wildfires – 61%
- Droughts – 58%
- Hurricanes – 56%
- Flooding – 56%
- Air pollution – 54%
- Water shortages – 51%
- Water pollution – 46%
- Electricity power outages – 44%
- Diseases carried by mosquitoes and ticks – 42%
YouGov – Americans say that the country is doing too little to protect the environment, and prefer for a wide range of environmental regulations to be strengthened rather than weakened [Release, Topline]
Most Americans say that the government isn’t doing enough to protect the environment. The majority of Americans (55%) believe that the government is not doing enough to protect the environment, compared to just 9% who say that the government is doing “too much” on environmental protection. Around one-quarter (23%) say that the government is doing “the right amount” on the issue.
When asked to compare the U.S. to other countries, Americans are also substantially more likely to say that the U.S. does less than other countries to protect the environment (40%) than to say that the U.S. does more than other countries on the issue (24%).
Americans particularly want stronger government protections for clean water and wildlife. In terms of specific areas of environmental and energy regulation, Americans are most likely to say that the U.S. should implement stronger regulations on wildlife habitats and water pollution. Below are the percentages who say that government regulations in various categories should be increased, kept the same, or decreased:
- Wildlife habitats – 57% increase regulations / 22% keep the same / 7% decrease
- Water pollution – 54% increase / 19% keep the same / 14% decrease
- Waste disposal – 48% increase / 26% keep the same / 10% decrease
- Air pollution – 47% increase / 22% keep the same / 18% decrease
- Single-use plastics – 42% increase / 22% keep the same / 20% decrease
- Pesticides – 42% increase / 22% keep the same / 22% decrease
- Power plants – 41% increase / 25% keep the same / 17% decrease
- Solar energy – 41% increase / 26% keep the same / 17% decrease
- Oil drilling – 41% increase / 18% keep the same / 25% decrease
- Greenhouse gas emissions – 40% increase / 21% keep the same / 22% decrease
- Land development – 39% increase / 22% keep the same / 23% decrease
- Wind energy – 38% increase / 23% keep the same / 19% decrease
- Factory farming – 36% increase / 24% keep the same / 16% decrease
- Vehicle emissions – 36% increase / 28% keep the same / 22% decrease
- Coal mining – 36% increase / 22% keep the same / 24% decrease
As this data shows, the constituencies who want to decrease environmental regulations in any area are very low in absolute terms (25% or less) and consistently lower than the percentages who want to increase environmental regulations in the same area. These preferences by the public stand in stark contrast to the actions of Trump’s EPA, which has proudly touted the “biggest deregulatory action” in U.S. history.
Most Americans recognize that natural disasters are increasing in frequency and say that climate change is at least partially responsible. Three in five Americans (60%) believe that the frequency of major natural disasters has increased in recent decades. Out of this 60%, more than four in five (86%) say that climate change is at least “somewhat” responsible for the increased frequency of natural disasters and most (62%) say that climate change is “mostly” or “entirely” responsible.
Americans believe that climate change will significantly harm the United States, but expect more limited impacts on their own lives. Similar to what Yale and GMU found in asking Americans about the groups that will be impacted the most by global warming, YouGov finds that Americans anticipate that climate change will cause significant harms to the world and to the United States but believe that it will have less serious impacts on their own lives.
Majorities believe that climate change will cause at least a “moderate amount” of harm to the world (65%) and to the United States (60%), while roughly half expect at least “moderate” harm to their local community (51%) and around two in five (39%) expect at least “moderate” harm to themselves personally.
Americans say that the country should be using more wind and solar energy, and on balance want the U.S. to use less gas, oil, and coal. Consistent with other public polling, YouGov finds that Americans are far more supportive of specific renewable energy sources than specific fossil fuel sources.
When asked about their preferences for the country’s energy supply, majorities say that the U.S. should use more solar and wind while pluralities say that the U.S. should use less gas, coal, and oil:
- Solar – 62% more / 18% the same amount / 11% less
- Wind – 51% more / 20% the same amount / 17% less
- Nuclear – 33% more / 21% the same amount / 26% less
- Gas – 20% more / 35% the same amount / 32% less
- Oil – 17% more / 28% the same amount / 42% less
- Coal – 15% more / 22% the same amount / 47% less
The Economist + YouGov – The majority of Americans say that the federal government should increase what it spends on the environment [Topline, Crosstabs]
The majority of Americans want more federal spending on the environment. The Economist and YouGov find that the environment is one of several priorities that Americans want to see more federal spending on, while Americans are more likely to support funding cuts to ICE than to any other agency or budget category.
Below are the budget items that the poll asked about, ranked by the percentage of Americans who want to increase spending on each one:
- Veterans – 72% increase / 18% keep the same / 4% decrease
- Social Security – 67% increase / 21% keep the same / 6% decrease
- Medicare – 65% increase / 22% keep the same / 8% decrease
- Education – 62% increase / 19% keep the same / 14% decrease
- Medicaid – 56% increase / 24% keep the same / 13% decrease
- The environment – 55% increase / 19% keep the same / 19% decrease
- SNAP (food stamps) – 47% increase / 27% keep the same / 21% decrease
- National defense – 36% increase / 29% keep the same / 28% decrease
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – 28% increase / 16% keep the same / 51% decrease
- Foreign aid – 25% increase / 21% keep the same / 46% decrease
Only around one-third of Americans approve of the way that Trump is handling the environment. The Economist and YouGov find that Trump is 18 points underwater in his overall job approval (39% approve / 57% disapprove) and in even deeper negative territory (-21 net, 33% approve / 54% disapprove) on his handling of the environment specifically.
This difference is due in large part to Trump’s sky-high overall job approval among Republicans (85% approve / 13% disapprove), who are relatively less enthused about how Trump is handling environmental issues specifically (69% approve / 16% disapprove).
This is a good reminder that there is significant daylight between Trump’s environmental positions and Republican voters’ preferences. For example, while Trump has often dismissed climate change as a “hoax,” The Economist and YouGov find here that around one-third of Republicans (34%) recognize that the world’s climate is changing as a result of human activity and only 14% of Republicans deny that climate change is happening.
Meanwhile, The Economist and YouGov find that independents are more than twice as likely to disapprove than approve of how Trump is handling his job overall (27% approve / 67% disapprove) and how he’s handling the environment in particular (25% approve / 58% disapprove).
Related Resources
Environmental Polling Roundup – August 6th, 2021
This post includes a roundup of climate + environment headlines from this week’s public polls, good data points to highlight, and a full roundup including key takeaways from each poll.
Environmental Polling Roundup – August 23rd, 2021
This post includes a roundup of climate + environment headlines from this week’s public polls, good data points to highlight, and a full roundup including key takeaways from each poll.
Environmental Polling Roundup – August 27th, 2021
This post includes a roundup of climate + environment headlines from this week’s public polls, good data points to highlight, and a full roundup including key takeaways from each poll.