Democrats, younger Americans, and college educated Americans are the mostly likely to discuss global warming with their friends and family. Republicans of all ideologies are the least likely to discuss the issue, even as non-conservative Republicans generally support climate action. 68% of liberal Democrats discuss climate with friends of family “often” or “occasionally”, while just 11% of conservative Republicans and 24% of rural Americans do.

The 2022 election defied conventional wisdom and historical trends. Democrats won in the majority of heavily contested races, with electorates in these contests looking more like the 2020 and 2018 electorates than a typical midterm. Gen Z and Millennial voters had exceptional levels of turnout, with young voters in heavily contested states exceeding their 2018 turnout by 6% among those who were eligible in both elections. Extreme “MAGA” Republicans underperformed. Women voters pushed Democrats over the top in heavily contested races, where abortion rights were often their top issue. Democrats largely retained their winning 2020 coalition in heavily contested races, with some exceptions.

The repeal of job-producing clean energy investments is one of many elements that voters find deeply concerning about congressional Republicans’ debt ceiling proposal. 70% of voters find it concerning that congressional Republicans’ proposed budget plan would repeal investments in clean energy that have already created more than 100,000 jobs.

Nine in ten Floridians recognize that climate change is happening, and most support making solar the state’s primary source of energy. 90% of Floridians recognize that climate change is happening, including 65% who say that climate change is caused largely by human activity. 74% of Floridians say that climate change has them concerned about the well-being of future generations in Florida. 71% of Floridians agree that the state government should do more to address the impacts of climate change. 58% of Floridians choose solar when asked to choose the primary form of energy production they want Florida to support in the future, compared to just 10% who want to continue using gas as the state’s primary energy source.

California voters, including those in swing congressional districts (CDs), understand that climate change impacts the weather and the state economy. 61% of California voters say that climate change is either a “crisis” or serious problem, including 53% in swing CDs. 60% of California voters say that climate change plays a major role in extreme weather events, including 53% in swing CDs.

Large majorities of Black and Hispanic Americans worry about the pollution of their drinking water. 56% of all American adults worry “a great deal” about pollution in drinking water, but 76% of Black adults and 70% of Hispanic adults worry “a great deal,” compared to 48% of white adults who do.

The divide between Democrats and Republicans on which news sources are trustworthy remains stark. Americans are 53 points more likely to call The Weather Channel trustworthy as they are to call it untrustworthy. It's also the only outlet that YouGov asked about that more Democrats (+64) and Republicans (+47) trust than the shares who distrust it. The Weather Channel is just one of two outlets polled about that a majority of Republicans trust; the other one is Fox News (56% of Republicans trust it, with a net trust score among them of +41). When it comes to the national rankings, The Weather Channel is followed by national public broadcaster PBS (+30), the U.K. news outlet BBC (+29), and The Wall Street Journal (+24) in national trust. This year's poll has the same group in the top four as last year's poll — even with the additions to this year's poll.

Asian Americans have long been excluded from the national climate movement, activists and scientists told Axios. Asian Americans across the country are working to change that legacy of omission by leading climate organizations, protests and research. Climate justice activist Alexia Leclercq, who is Taiwanese with Indigenous ancestry, tells Axios that growing up in Texas, "upper class, white, mostly men" were always depicted as scientists or environmentalists. Although representation has "somewhat improved," Leclercq says the larger Asian American community is still "not included" in leadership within these spaces.

Nevada voters are deeply concerned about water issues, and few believe that the state is doing enough to address climate change. 46% of Nevada voters say that the state isn’t doing enough to address climate change, compared to just 11% who say that the state is doing too much and 25% who say that the state is doing the right amount. Just over half of Nevadans say they approve of Gov. Joe Lombardo’s job performance four months into his term. Of those respondents, however, only 16 percent said they “strongly approve” of Lombardo’s performance, while another 35 percent said they “somewhat approve.” Another 21 percent of respondents said they have “no opinion.” Lombardo’s approval also differed widely among genders — it was as high as 61 percent among men, compared with just 42 percent among women — as well as by region. Lombardo’s highest marks came from the state’s rural counties (70 percent approval).

Messages that consistently outperform other content center people and their stories. Again and again, whether the topic was jobs, extreme weather, or the scientific facts of overheating, one finding seemed to stand head and shoulders above the rest: Advertisements with human faces win. A natural, casual conversation between two moms—one a climate scientist, and one an everyday American who had some questions about how (and why) wildfires were getting worse—increased strong support for immediate climate action by 12.0%, compared to a provocative ad that highlighted the constant “state of emergency” we often find ourselves in due to extreme weather, which increased strong support by 3.4%. Another recent campaign specific to California showcased the individual humans most affected by the headlines many have become immune to: A headline about a drought is easy to ignore, but the face of a farmer is hard to forget—this campaign led to a 14.2% increase in strong support for climate action. Overall, find the humans, humanize the headlines, connect on shared values, and lift up unexpected messengers.