Skip to content

Majority of US voters link extreme weather to climate crisis

scienceJul 19, 202622921

A Data for Progress poll shared exclusively with the Guardian found about 61% of likely American voters believe extreme weather events have become more frequent over the past five years. The survey shows 72% of Democrats, 63% of Independents, and 46% of Republicans endorse that view. Respondents largely linked specific events to climate change: 67% said heatwaves are worsening, 64% said wildfires, 63% said droughts, 62% said flooding and flash flooding, and 59% said both hurricanes and severe thunderstorms or hailstorms; 48% of Republicans said heatwaves are worsening. Grace Adcox of Data for Progress said consensus on worsening extreme weather could open a bipartisan conversation on climate intervention, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said the data shows the public is ahead of politicians. Yale researchers Anthony Leiserowitz and Jennifer Marlon said the poll aligns with Yale findings that Americans increasingly link extreme weather to climate change while many still mistakenly attribute warming to natural cycles, with a Yale spring survey finding 27% think changes are mostly natural. The article notes these findings come amid a summer of dangerous heat, drought and floods, and contrasts them with Donald Trump dismissing global heating as a "con job" and a "hoax".

1 source