Pumpjack located south of Midland, Texas. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
"Since 2019, the share of Americans who see a human contribution to climate change has not increased, despite scientific consensus on the issue and widespread media coverage," according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.
Asked "How much do you think human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels, contributes to global climate change?" 45 percent of respondents preferred "a great deal," 29 percent preferred "some," 17 percent preferred "not too much," and 8 percent preferred "not at all." The pattern of responses was not substantially different in previous polls going back to 2019.
Pew emphasized, "There continues to be a sharp partisan divide in views over how much humans affect climate change." Among respondents who indicated that they were Democrats or leaned Democratic, 70 percent preferred "a great deal," while among respondents who indicated that they were Republicans or leaned Republican, 20 percent preferred "a great deal."
The poll was administered online and by telephone to 9593 adults from a panel between October 21 and October 27, 2024. Results were demographically weighted. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 9593 respondents is plus or minus 1.3 percentage points.
