The Climate Change Generation?

The report challenges the 'conventional wisdom' that young Americans are more engaged with climate change than older adults. While young adults (18-34) are more likely to believe in human-caused global warming and trust scientists and President Obama, they are significantly less likely to have thought about the issue previously and more likely to discount immediate harms. The data reveals a strong ideological divide between liberals and conservatives that persists across age groups, though young political moderates and those with uncertain views show the most openness to changing their minds.

• Young adults (18-34) are less engaged with global warming than older generations, with 22% stating they had "never thought about the issue previously" and only 38% reporting they had thought about it "a lot" or "some," compared to 51% of those aged 35-59 and 44% of those 60 and older.
• Younger Americans are more likely to perceive the harms of global warming as distant rather than current; only 21% of 18-34 year-olds believe people worldwide are currently experiencing harm, whereas 33% of those 35-59 and 29% of those 60 and older hold this view.
• Young adults show a higher propensity to attribute global warming to human activity than older cohorts, with 52% of 18-34 year-olds believing it is caused mostly by human activities, compared to 46% of those 35-59 and 45% of those 60 and older.
• Trust in information sources varies by age and ideology: young adults are significantly more trusting of scientists (82%) and President Barack Obama (61%) than older Americans, while young evangelicals specifically place high trust in religious leaders (81%).
• Political polarization remains a dominant factor across all age groups; 77% of liberals believe global warming is happening compared to 35% of conservatives, and young liberals are no more likely to hold supportive beliefs than older liberals.
• There is a distinct difference between the youngest adults (18-22) and those aged 23-34, with the college-age group being more likely to view the issue as personally important (27% vs 14%) and more open to changing their minds (41% vs 31%).
• Young adults with moderately skeptical or uncertain views are the most open to engagement; for example, 78% of those who believe global warming is caused by both human and natural factors agree they could easily change their minds.

APA

Feldman, L., Nisbet, M. C., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. (2010). The Climate Change Generation? Center for Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2010-The-Climate-Change-Generation.pdf

Chicago

Feldman, Lauren, Matthew C. Nisbet, Anthony Leiserowitz, and Edward Maibach. The Climate Change Generation? Center for Climate Change Communication, 2010. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2010-The-Climate-Change-Generation.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Feldman |first1=Lauren |last2=Nisbet |first2=Matthew C. |last3=Leiserowitz |first3=Anthony |last4=Maibach |first4=Edward |title=The Climate Change Generation? |publisher=Center for Climate Change Communication |date=2 March 2010 |url=https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2010-The-Climate-Change-Generation.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{feldman2010climate, author = {Feldman, Lauren and Nisbet, Matthew C. and Leiserowitz, Anthony and Maibach, Edward}, title = {{The Climate Change Generation?}}, institution = {Center for Climate Change Communication}, year = {2010}, month = mar, url = {https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2010-The-Climate-Change-Generation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }