In this report we examine public support for climate change and energy policies among different racial and ethnic groups. We find that in many cases, minorities are equally as supportive, and often more supportive of national climate and energy policies, than white Americans.
As the United States becomes increasingly diverse over the first half of the twenty-first century, understanding the viewpoints of people of different racial and ethnic groups on climate change is becoming ever more important. This report provides an analysis of the global warming and energy policy preferences of both the overall American public and of particular racial and ethnic groups, based upon an October and November 2008 nationally representative survey of American 2,164 adults. A follow-up survey of 1,001 respondents in December 2009 and January 2010 is also discussed.
This study was conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University
Center for Climate Change Communication. It was funded by the Surdna Foundation, the 11th Hour
Project, the Pacific Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The race and ethnicity
analysis was supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Principal investigators:
Anthony Leiserowitz, PhD
Yale Project on Climate Change
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University
(203) 432-4865
[email protected]
Karen Akerlof
Center for Climate Change Communication
Department of Communication, George Mason University
(703) 282-1289
[email protected]
Cite as: Leiserowitz, A. & Akerlof, K. (2010) Race, Ethnicity and Public Responses to Climate
Change. Yale University and George Mason University. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate
Change. http://environment.yale.edu/uploads/RaceEthnicity2010.pdf