Voters' Reasons to Reduce Global Warming

The report finds that providing a better life for future generations remains the top motivation for U.S. voters to reduce global warming across all political groups. Since 2017, there has been a significant increase in voters citing the prevention of extreme weather and global poverty/starvation as primary motivators, while support for economic arguments (green jobs) and energy independence (foreign oil) has declined.

• The most frequently cited reasons for reducing global warming among all U.S. registered voters are providing a better life for children and grandchildren (47%), preventing extreme weather events (37%), and preventing the destruction of most life on the planet (37%).
• Between 2017 and 2024, there were significant increases in voters selecting the prevention of extreme weather (+9 percentage points) and saving people from poverty and starvation (+6 percentage points) as top reasons. Conversely, reasons including dependence on foreign oil, protecting God's creation, and creating green jobs all saw significant declines of 6 to 7 percentage points.
• Among conservative Republicans, the most common response was that the question was not applicable because global warming is not happening (37%), an increase of 10 percentage points since 2017. For those who did provide reasons, the top choices were providing a better life for future generations (27%), preventing extreme weather (21%), and saving plant and animal species from extinction (21%).
• The motivation to prevent extreme weather saw a particularly sharp increase among moderate/conservative Democrats, rising from 31% in 2017 to 51% in 2024.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2024). Voters' Reasons to Reduce Global Warming. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/voters-reasons-to-reduce-gw/

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Voters' Reasons to Reduce Global Warming. 2024. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/voters-reasons-to-reduce-gw/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Voters' Reasons to Reduce Global Warming |date=12 September 2024 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/voters-reasons-to-reduce-gw/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2024voters, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Voters' Reasons to Reduce Global Warming}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/voters-reasons-to-reduce-gw/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }