Americans’ Willingness to Prepare for Climate Change vs. Extreme Weather

The study finds that while most Americans support preparedness regardless of terminology, using "extreme weather" generally yields higher or equal support for personal actions and infrastructure policies compared to "climate change," particularly among conservatives. Conversely, liberals are more likely to support collective preparedness actions when "climate change" is used. The authors conclude that "extreme weather" is a safer term for engaging conservatives, while "climate change" can be beneficial for engaging liberals.

• Willingness to take personal preparedness actions was generally high across both groups, though the term "extreme weather" resulted in higher willingness to prepare a home emergency kit (90% vs 84% for "climate change"). Willingness to buy a generator was similar for both groups (61% for "extreme weather" and 65% for "climate change").
• Support for infrastructure protection policies was lower when the term "climate change" was used. Specifically, 80% of the "extreme weather" group viewed protecting public water supplies as a "high" priority compared to 74% of the "climate change" group, and 62% supported protecting transportation, roads, and bridges compared to 48% in the "climate change" group.
• Political ideology significantly influences reactions to the terminology. Conservatives were less likely to prepare an emergency kit when the term "climate change" was used. In contrast, liberals showed substantially higher willingness to engage in collective actions, such as joining a local political campaign, when the term "climate change" was used (54%) compared to "extreme weather" (38%).
• The study concludes that while "climate change" is generally not harmful and potentially beneficial for liberal audiences, and has little effect on moderates, it is "riskier" for conservative audiences, making "extreme weather" a safer option for engagement.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2021). Americans’ Willingness to Prepare for Climate Change vs. Extreme Weather. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/americans-willingness-to-prepare-for-climate-change-vs-extreme-weather/

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Americans’ Willingness to Prepare for Climate Change vs. Extreme Weather. 2021. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/americans-willingness-to-prepare-for-climate-change-vs-extreme-weather/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Americans’ Willingness to Prepare for Climate Change vs. Extreme Weather |date=23 September 2021 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/americans-willingness-to-prepare-for-climate-change-vs-extreme-weather/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2021americans, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Americans’ Willingness to Prepare for Climate Change vs. Extreme Weather}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/americans-willingness-to-prepare-for-climate-change-vs-extreme-weather/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }