What do Americans think is the biggest threat from global warming?

Based on a March 2021 survey of 1,037 U.S. adults, the report finds that 'Weather extremes and changes' is the most commonly cited threat of global warming, mentioned by 20% of respondents. Perceptions of these threats vary significantly by political affiliation, with Democrats more likely to cite extreme weather and inaction, while Republicans are more likely to view climate action itself as a threat or believe global warming is not a threat. Other identified concerns include pollution, environmental harms, and food and water shortages.

• The most prevalent concern among Americans regarding global warming is 'Weather extremes and changes', cited by 20% of respondents. This category encompasses seasonal shifts, changing weather patterns, and various extreme events such as hurricanes, droughts, floods, extreme temperatures, and wildfires.
• Perceptions of the greatest threat are strongly divided by political party: 30% of Democrats identified weather extremes and changes as the primary threat compared to 10% of Republicans. Conversely, 16% of Republicans stated that global warming is not a threat, while 0% of Democrats shared this view. Additionally, 9% of Republicans identified the actions taken to address global warming as the greatest threat, whereas 0% of Democrats did.
• Other significant themes identified from the survey responses include: 'Global warming is not a threat' (7%), 'Pollution' (6%), 'Other' (6%), 'Don’t know' (6%), 'Environmental harms' (5%), 'Food and water shortages' (4%), 'Action' (4%), and 'Economic and social changes' (4%).
• A small minority of respondents identified 'Health harms' (3%) or 'Inaction' (2%) as the primary threat. Those citing inaction specifically mentioned political agendas promoting fossil fuels and the denial of climate change.

APA

J., M., M., B., M., V., J., C., S., R., J., K., E., M., & A., L. (2023). What do Americans think is the biggest threat from global warming? Center for Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/all/what-do-americans-think-is-the-biggest-threat-from-global-warming/

Chicago

J., Marlon,, Ballew, M., Verner, M., Carman, J., Rosenthal, S., Kotcher, J., Maibach, E., and Leiserowitz, A. What do Americans think is the biggest threat from global warming? Center for Climate Change Communication, 2023. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/all/what-do-americans-think-is-the-biggest-threat-from-global-warming/.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{j2023what, author = {J., Marlon, and M., Ballew, and M., Verner, and J., Carman, and S., Rosenthal, and J., Kotcher, and E., Maibach, and A., Leiserowitz,}, title = {{What do Americans think is the biggest threat from global warming?}}, institution = {Center for Climate Change Communication}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/all/what-do-americans-think-is-the-biggest-threat-from-global-warming/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }