Climate Change in the American Mind

The report finds that 70% of Americans believe global warming is happening, with 53% attributing it to human causes. While worry about the issue is increasing, a significant gap remains between public perception and scientific consensus, as only 11% of respondents recognize that over 90% of climate scientists agree on human-caused warming. Most Americans believe corporations, industry, and citizens should do more to address the issue, and 61% support the U.S. reducing greenhouse gas emissions regardless of other countries' actions.

• Seven in ten Americans (70%) believe global warming is occurring, a figure that has risen steadily since March 2015 and is nearly at its highest level since November 2008.
• There is a significant disconnect between public belief and scientific consensus: only 11% of Americans are aware that more than 90% of climate scientists are convinced that human-caused global warming is happening.
• About 53% of Americans believe that global warming, if it is happening, is primarily caused by humans, while 34% attribute it to natural environmental changes.
• Emotional responses to global warming are mixed; 67% of Americans feel 'interested', while approximately half feel 'helpless' (49%), 'disgusted' (48%), or 'hopeful' (48%).
• Perceptions of immediate harm in the U.S. are increasing, with 38% of Americans believing people in the U.S. are being harmed 'right now' by global warming, a 6 percentage point increase since spring 2015.
• Americans perceive the greatest harm from global warming to be affecting plant and animal species (71%) and future generations (70%), while they are least likely to believe it will harm themselves personally (41%).
• A majority of Americans (61%) believe the U.S. should reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions regardless of the actions of other countries.
• There is strong public support for climate education in schools, with 76% of Americans supporting teaching children about global warming, compared to 23% who oppose it.
• Public confidence in the ability of the U.S. Congress to pass necessary legislation is low, with only 37% believing the American people can convince Congress to pass the required laws.
• Americans conceptualize global warming primarily as an environmental (68%), scientific (59%), agricultural (55%), or severe weather (54%) issue, while few see it as a religious (7%) or social justice (16%) issue.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2016). Climate Change in the American Mind. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2016/06/Climate-Change-American-Mind-March-2016-FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Climate Change in the American Mind. 2016. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2016/06/Climate-Change-American-Mind-March-2016-FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Climate Change in the American Mind |date=March 2016 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2016/06/Climate-Change-American-Mind-March-2016-FINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2016climate, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Climate Change in the American Mind}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2016}, month = mar, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2016/06/Climate-Change-American-Mind-March-2016-FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }