Politics & Global Warming

A March 2018 survey of 1,067 registered US voters reveals broad bipartisan support for renewable energy and carbon pollution limits, despite significant political divides over the causes of global warming and the priority level assigned to climate action. While 73% of voters believe global warming is happening, only 40% of conservative Republicans share this view. However, majorities across the political spectrum support funding renewable energy research and regulating carbon dioxide. The report also notes a gap between stated support for climate action and actual individual engagement, with only 13% of voters having contacted an elected official about global warming in the previous year.

• There is a significant political divide regarding the reality and cause of global warming: 73% of all registered voters believe it is happening, but this drops to 40% among conservative Republicans. Similarly, 59% of all registered voters believe global warming is caused mostly by human activities, compared to only 26% of conservative Republicans.
• Bipartisan support exists for several clean energy and carbon reduction policies. Specifically, 87% of registered voters support funding more research into renewable energy sources like solar and wind, 86% support generating renewable energy on public land in the US, and 81% support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
• There is strong public support for the Paris Climate Agreement, with 77% of registered voters supporting US participation and 66% opposing President Trump's decision to withdraw.
• Voters generally believe that environmental protection is compatible with or superior to economic growth. 59% think protecting the environment improves economic growth and provides new jobs, and 71% believe environmental protection is more important than economic growth when a conflict exists.
• While 70% of registered voters believe corporations and industry should do more to address global warming, there is less consensus on government priority; only 54% think global warming should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress.
• Global warming is a significant voting issue primarily for liberal Democrats, for whom it is the fourth most important issue. For the general registered voter population, it ranks 15th out of 28 issues asked about.
• There is a gap between the willingness to act and actual behavior: 34% of registered voters would likely participate in a campaign to convince officials to take action, but only 13% actually contacted an elected official in the past 12 months to urge action on global warming.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2018). Politics & Global Warming. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2018/05/Global-Warming-Policy-Politics-March-2018.pdf

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Politics & Global Warming. 2018. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2018/05/Global-Warming-Policy-Politics-March-2018.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Politics & Global Warming |date=March 2018 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2018/05/Global-Warming-Policy-Politics-March-2018.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2018politics, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Politics \& Global Warming}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2018}, month = mar, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2018/05/Global-Warming-Policy-Politics-March-2018.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }