A majority of U.S. adults believe climate change is taking place, but fewer now say their personal actions can have a positive impact on climate change.
These were two findings from a report published on Aug. 15 by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, or AP-NORC.
Despite a five-point drop since 2019, 71% of respondents affirm that climate change is happening, compared to 11% (up two points) who say climate change is not happening and 18% (up three points) who are not sure.
A slim majority (52%) say “yes” when presented the question, “Do your actions have an effect on climate change?” – a 14-point decline from 2019.
When asked, “How much responsibility do individual people have for addressing climate change?” 45% of respondents say “a great deal / a lot” – down five points from three years ago.
The number of adults who are “extremely / very” worried about the effects of climate change on themselves has dropped nine points since 2019 to 35%.
Despite these declines, a strong majority (70%) of U.S. adults who affirm that climate change is taking place say, “It will be necessary for individuals to make major lifestyle changes.”
Economics, rather than helping the environment, was the main motivation of respondents for many of the actions surveyed.
For example, for a strong majority (74%), saving money is their primary motivation for each of the following actions: reducing heating and air conditioning usage, turning off lights, and buying used / second-hand products.
Only two actions surveyed had a majority of respondents say they do them primarily to help the environment: reducing paper / plastic usage (68%) and composting food waste (56%).
Among respondents who say climate change is taking place, a plurality (49%) say it is “caused mostly by human actions.” This is a five-point increase from 2019.
By comparison, 27% say climate change is “caused equally by human activities and natural changes in the environment” (unchanged from 2019), 17% “caused entirely by human activities” (down two points), 5% “caused mostly by natural changes in the environment” (down three points) and 1% “caused entirely by natural changes in the environment” (down one point).
The full report is available here. The topline results are available here. The methodology, noting an overall margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, is available here.
Managing editor for news and opinion at Good Faith Media.
