Americans’ Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes: June 2010

Jun 4, 2010 | All Categories, Beliefs and Attitudes, Climate Change in the American Mind, Reports

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This report includes measures of public global warming beliefs, risk perceptions, personal importance, information needs, trust in different information sources, attitudes towards individual action, and how these have changed since January, 2010 and November, 2008.

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Executive Summary

Here are a few highlights and changes since January, 2010:

  • Belief that global warming is happening rose four points, to 61 percent.
  • Belief that it is caused mostly by human activities rose three points, to 50 percent.
  • The number of Americans who worry about global warming rose three points, to 53 percent.
  • The number of Americans who said that the issue is personally important to them rose five points, to 63 percent.
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Interview dates: May 14, 2010 – June 1, 2010
Interviews: 1,024 Adults (18+)
Margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
NOTE: All results show percentages among all respondents, unless otherwise labeled. Totals may
occasionally sum to more than 100 percent due to rounding.

This study was conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George
Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, and was funded by the Surdna
Foundation, the Eleventh Hour Project, the Pacific Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation.

Principal Investigators:

Anthony Leiserowitz, PhD
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University
(203) 432-4865 [email protected]

Edward Maibach, MPH, PhD
Center for Climate Change Communication
Department of Communication, George Mason University
(703) 993-1587 [email protected]

Connie Roser-Renouf, PhD
Center for Climate Change Communication
Department of Communication, George Mason University
(707) 825-0601 [email protected]

Nicholas Smith, PhD
Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University
(203) 432-1208 [email protected]

Cite as: Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Roser-Renouf, C., & Smith, N. (2010) Climate change in the
American Mind: Americans’ global warming beliefs and attitudes in June 2010. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.
http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/ClimateBeliefsJune2010.pdf