Politics & Global Warming

The report finds that while a majority of US registered voters believe global warming is happening and support various clean energy policies, significant ideological divides persist. Democrats and liberal/moderate Republicans generally align with the mainstream public in supporting climate action, whereas conservative Republicans remain the most skeptical group, though they have shown the largest increase in belief that global warming is occurring over a two-year period. Public awareness of the scientific consensus on human-caused warming remains very low across all political groups.

• Belief that global warming is occurring has increased among registered voters, with 73% now believing it is happening, up from 66% in Spring 2014. The most significant shift occurred among conservative Republicans, who saw a 19 percentage point increase in this belief over two years, though only 47% of this group currently believes it is happening.
• A majority of registered voters (56%) believe global warming is caused primarily by human activities. This belief is strongest among Democrats (75%) and lowest among conservative Republicans (26%).
• There is a significant gap between scientific consensus and public understanding; only 16% of registered voters are aware that 90% or more of climate scientists are convinced that human-caused global warming is happening.
• Voters are more likely to support a presidential candidate who favors climate action than one who opposes it. 43% of registered voters are more likely to vote for a candidate who strongly supports action, while 45% are more likely to vote against a candidate who strongly opposes such action.
• Global warming is a priority for a subset of voters, ranking 19th out of 23 issues for the general electorate, but 10th for Democrats. 67% of Democrats and 49% of Independents consider it an important issue for the 2016 election.
• There is broad bipartisan support for several clean energy and carbon reduction policies, including funding renewable energy research (84%), providing tax rebates for energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels (81%), and regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant (75%).
• A majority of registered voters (70%) support strict carbon dioxide emission limits on existing coal-fired power plants, even if electricity costs increase. This support is high among Democrats (88%), Independents (67%), and liberal/moderate Republicans (67%), but low among conservative Republicans (37%).
• Most registered voters (65%) believe the U.S. should reduce greenhouse gas emissions regardless of the actions of other countries, though this is not shared by a majority of conservative Republicans (39%).
• There is strong consensus that corporations and industry should do more to address global warming, with 74% of registered voters supporting this view.
• Individual political and consumer actions are relatively low: only 10% of Americans contacted government officials about global warming in the past year, and 29% expressed willingness to join a campaign to convince officials to take action.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2016). Politics & Global Warming. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2016/04/Politics-and-Global-Warming-Spring-2016.pdf

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Politics & Global Warming. 2016. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2016/04/Politics-and-Global-Warming-Spring-2016.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Politics & Global Warming |date=2016 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2016/04/Politics-and-Global-Warming-Spring-2016.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2016politics, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Politics \& Global Warming}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2016}, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/app/uploads/2016/04/Politics-and-Global-Warming-Spring-2016.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }