Earth Day 2024: Public Opinion on Climate Change

Steady majorities of Americans say that the government should do more to address global warming and will be failing the American people if it doesn’t take action. However, Americans have mixed attitudes about the economics of climate action. 56% of Americans agree that the U.S. should do more in the fight against climate change. 54% of Americans agree that the U.S. government will be failing its people if it does not act now to combat climate change. Americans are more split in response to the negative rationale that “now is not the right time to be investing in measures to reduce climate change given the tough economic conditions” (33% agree / 36% disagree), underlining how important it is to convince the public of the economic benefits of climate action.