Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy

A survey of 915 registered U.S. voters in May 2025 reveals broad support for clean energy research, soil restoration, and the Paris Climate Agreement, though significant political polarization remains regarding the economic impact of the energy transition and the priority level of global warming. While many voters express willingness to take political action if asked, actual engagement remains low, hindered by barriers such as a lack of solicitation and perceived inefficacy.

• There is a divide in whether global warming should be a top government priority: 52% of registered voters believe it should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress, with strong support from liberal Democrats (91%) but low support from conservative Republicans (12%).
• Registered voters show high support for specific carbon-reduction policies, including federal funding for soil restoration (88%), renewable energy research (80%), regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant (75%), and tax credits for electric appliances (71%).
• A majority of registered voters (67%) support transitioning the U.S. economy to 100% clean energy by 2050, though this is strongly polarized, with 95% of liberal Democrats in favor compared to 31% of conservative Republicans.
• Public support for energy production on public land favors renewables (76%) over fossil fuels, with only 44% supporting drilling and mining for fossil fuels and 30% supporting drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• The Foreign Pollution Fee Act has very low name recognition (3%), but 81% of registered voters support the proposal after reading a description of the bill.
• There is strong bipartisan support for the Paris Climate Agreement (79%), and 65% of registered voters oppose President Trump's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the agreement.
• Voters are split on the economic impact of clean energy policies: 48% believe they will improve economic growth and provide new jobs, while 29% believe they will reduce growth and cost jobs.
• While 34% of registered voters are willing to join a campaign to convince officials to take action on global warming, actual participation is very low, with only 2% currently participating and 8% having contacted officials in the past year.
• The primary barrier to political advocacy is a lack of solicitation, with 80% of registered voters stating that nobody has ever asked them to contact officials about global warming.
• A significant portion of the electorate remains open to new information or changing their views: 35% say they need more information to form a firm opinion, and 26% say they could easily change their mind about global warming.
• There is broad agreement (78%) that schools should teach children about the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to global warming.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2025). Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2025/06/climate-change-american-mind-politics-policy-spring-2025c.pdf

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy. 2025. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2025/06/climate-change-american-mind-politics-policy-spring-2025c.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy |date=2025 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2025/06/climate-change-american-mind-politics-policy-spring-2025c.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2025climate, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics \& Policy}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2025}, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2025/06/climate-change-american-mind-politics-policy-spring-2025c.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }