WHAT’S IN A NAME? GLOBAL WARMING VERSUS CLIMATE CHANGE

The report finds that 'global warming' and 'climate change' are not synonymous for many Americans, with 'global warming' generally evoking stronger negative emotions, a greater sense of urgency, and higher levels of personal and familial threat. While the terms are largely synonymous for Republicans, the use of 'climate change' appears to reduce engagement among Democrats, Independents, and liberals.

• Americans are equally familiar with 'global warming' and 'climate change', but they report hearing and personally using 'global warming' significantly more often. In a January 2014 survey, 45% of Americans said they hear 'global warming' more often compared to 12% for 'climate change', and 35% personally use 'global warming' more than 16% use 'climate change'.
• The term 'global warming' generates stronger negative emotional reactions than 'climate change'. Overall, 76% of Americans rate 'global warming' as a 'bad thing' compared to 63% for 'climate change'. This difference is particularly pronounced among Hispanics (+22 percentage points) and African Americans (+20 percentage points) when rating the term as a 'very bad thing'.
• The two terms evoke different mental associations. 'Global warming' is more strongly associated with 'Icemelt', 'Alarm', 'Flood', and 'Ozone'. 'Climate change' is more frequently associated with 'Weather' and 'Global Warming'. Within the weather category, 'global warming' is more likely to be linked to 'extreme weather' (38%) than 'climate change' (27%).
• The term 'global warming' increases certainty and perceived threat. Americans are 7 percentage points more likely to be 'extremely sure' that global warming is happening (27%) than climate change (20%). Additionally, 'global warming' evokes a higher sense of personal threat (38% vs 30%) and threat to family (42% vs 33%) than 'climate change'.
• The use of 'global warming' leads to higher priority ratings for government action and a greater willingness to engage in activism. 36% of Americans believe the president and Congress should make 'global warming' a high or very high priority, compared to 30% for 'climate change'. Furthermore, 29% would join a campaign to reduce 'global warming' versus 23% for 'climate change'.
• The impact of the two terms varies by political affiliation. For Republicans, the terms are generally synonymous, although 'global warming' can still generate stronger feelings of threat and a higher belief that it is affecting U.S. weather. Conversely, using 'climate change' appears to reduce engagement among Democrats, Independents, liberals, and moderates.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2014). WHAT’S IN A NAME? GLOBAL WARMING VERSUS CLIMATE CHANGE. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2014/05/Global-Warming_Climate-Change_Report_May_2014.pdf

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. WHAT’S IN A NAME? GLOBAL WARMING VERSUS CLIMATE CHANGE. 2014. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2014/05/Global-Warming_Climate-Change_Report_May_2014.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=WHAT’S IN A NAME? GLOBAL WARMING VERSUS CLIMATE CHANGE |date=May 2014 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2014/05/Global-Warming_Climate-Change_Report_May_2014.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2014whats, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{WHAT’S IN A NAME? GLOBAL WARMING VERSUS CLIMATE CHANGE}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2014}, month = may, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2014/05/Global-Warming_Climate-Change_Report_May_2014.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }