Public Resource
Younger Americans are growing more worried about global warming
Since 2012, global warming acceptance and worry have increased faster among younger Americans aged 18-34 compared to older Americans. More young adults today accept that global warming is happening (+13% points from 68% in 2012 to 81% in 2022) and already harming the U.S. (+24% from 40% in 2012 to 64% in 2022). Further, conservative Republicans consistently remain the least worried—the gap in worry about global warming between liberal/moderate and conservative Republicans has grown by 7% points in the last decade (from a difference of 32% points in 2012 to 39% points in 2022) and 12% points in the last five years (from a difference of 27% points in 2012 to 39% points in 2022). There is also increased political polarization in climate policy support over the last five years—conservative Republicans are much less supportive of funding research into renewable energy today (52% in 2022) than they were in five years ago (71% in 2017), and the difference in support between liberal/moderate and conservative Republicans has grown by 10% points (from a difference of 15% points in 2017 to 25% points in 2022). These findings and more come from the latest release of Climate Change in the American Mind (CCAM) data and the update to interactive data visualization tool, the CCAM Explorer. The data and tool include two additional years of public opinion about climate change (2008-2022) and enable anyone to explore Americans’ beliefs, risk perceptions, policy support, and behaviors over time and by different demographic groups.