Climate Change in the Minds of U.S. News Audiences

The report examines climate change perceptions among regular viewers and listeners of CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, the Weather Channel, and national nightly network news. It finds significant divergence in beliefs regarding human-caused global warming, particularly within the Fox News audience, while noting a general desire for more information across most news audiences.

• Across all six news audiences, there is a widespread feeling of being under-informed about global warming, with fewer than 20% of any group reporting they feel "very well informed."
• There is a sharp divide in the belief that global warming is human-caused: large majorities in all audiences except Fox News hold this view. In the Fox News audience, 53% believe global warming is happening, but 48% attribute it to "natural changes in the environment" rather than human activity.
• Perceptions of media performance vary by outlet; majorities of audiences for CNN, NPR, MSNBC, and nightly network news believe the media should do more to address global warming, whereas only 34% of the Fox News audience shares this view.
• The report identifies a correlation between news source and the 'Six Americas' segments: NPR, MSNBC, and CNN audiences are predominantly 'Alarmed' or 'Concerned', while the Fox News audience is largest among the 'Concerned' and 'Cautious' (43% combined).
• Despite differing beliefs on causes, majorities across all news audiences indicate that global warming or environmental protection will be an important factor in their vote for the 2020 presidential election.

APA

Gustafson, A., Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., Rosenthal, S., Kotcher, J., & Goldberg, M. (2020). Climate Change in the Minds of U.S. News Audiences. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2020/10/Climate-Change-in-the-Minds-of-US-News-Audiences.pdf

Chicago

Gustafson, Abel, Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Seth Rosenthal, John Kotcher, and Matthew Goldberg. Climate Change in the Minds of U.S. News Audiences. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 2020. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2020/10/Climate-Change-in-the-Minds-of-US-News-Audiences.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{gustafson2020climate, author = {Gustafson, Abel and Leiserowitz, Anthony and Maibach, Edward and Rosenthal, Seth and Kotcher, John and Goldberg, Matthew}, title = {{Climate Change in the Minds of U.S. News Audiences}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2020}, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2020/10/Climate-Change-in-the-Minds-of-US-News-Audiences.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }