Politics & Global Warming, April 2022
7.1. Many registered voters are willing to take political actions to reduce global warming.
More than half of registered voters (53%) say they would sign a petition about global warming, including majorities of liberal Democrats (87%) and moderate/conservative Democrats (66%), but fewer liberal/moderate Republicans (41%) and conservative Republicans (23%). About three in ten say they would donate money (31%) or volunteer their time (31%) to an organization working on global warming. Fewer would contact government officials about global warming (29%) or meet with an elected official or their staff (27%).
More than one in four registered voters (28%) would support an organization engaging in non-violent civil disobedience against corporate or government activities that make global warming worse, and 17% (including 34% of liberal Democrats) would personally engage in such non-violent civil disobedience.
7.2. Relatively few registered voters have engaged in political actions to reduce global warming in the past year.
Relatively few registered voters have engaged in political actions to reduce global warming over the past 12 months, including 19% who say they have signed a petition about global warming at least “once,” and 13% who say they have donated money to an organization working on global warming at least “once.” Fewer (8%) have volunteered their time to an organization working on global warming at least “once” in the past year.
7.3. Relatively few registered voters have urged elected officials to reduce global warming.
Nine percent of registered voters have contacted government officials to urge them to take action to reduce global warming at least “once” over the past 12 months. This includes 21% of liberal Democrats, 12% of moderate/conservative Democrats, 6% of liberal/moderate Republicans, and 1% of conservative Republicans.
7.4. About three in ten registered voters are participating, or willing to participate, in a campaign to convince elected officials to take action to reduce global warming – although current participation is low.
A total of about three in ten registered voters (29%) say they are “probably” (18%) or “definitely” (9%) willing to join a campaign to convince elected officials to take action to reduce global warming or are already currently participating in such a campaign (1%; see data tables). This includes 59% of liberal Democrats (3% “currently,” 21% “definitely,” and 36% “probably”), 40% of moderate/conservative Democrats (1% “currently,” 10% “definitely,” and 28% “probably”), and 17% of liberal/moderate Republicans (2% “currently,” 2% “definitely,” and 13% “probably”), but only 4% of conservative Republicans (less than 1% “currently or “definitely,” and 3% “probably”).
Table of Contents
1. Global Warming as a Voting Issue
2. Global Warming and Clean Energy as Government Priorities
3. Support for Policies to Reduce the Pollution that Causes Global Warming
4. Energy Production as an Economic Issue
5. Who is Responsible for Action on Global Warming?
6. State and Local Government Action on Global Warming
7. Political Actions to Limit Global Warming
Citation
Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Rosenthal, S., Kotcher, J., Carman, J., Neyens, L., Myers, T., Goldberg, M., Campbell, E., Lacroix, K., & Marlon, J. (2022). Politics & Global Warming, April 2022. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.