Teens accept human-caused climate change despite not learning a lot about it in school

A new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll surveyed teens as well as adults about their views on climate change. Asked, "Do you think human activity is or is not causing changes to the world's climate, including an increase in average temperature," 79 percent of adults and 86 percent of teens said yes, 19 percent of adults and 14 percent of teens said no, and 2 percent of adults and less than 0.5 percent of teens expressed no opinion.

Teens were also asked how much they have learned about the causes of climate change at school, with 17 percent saying a lot, 37 percent saying a moderate amount, 36 percent saying a little, and 11 percent saying nothing. In a survey (PDF, p. 45) from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication in 2010 that similarly asked teens how much they have learned about the causes of global warming at school, 22 percent said a lot, 35 percent said some, 28 percent said little, and 15 percent said nothing. But it would be unwarranted to conclude that less is taught about climate change in schools in 2019 than in 2010: today's teens may have higher expectations.

The poll used "a probability-based sample of 2,293 adults ages 18 and over and 629 teens between the ages of 13 and 17. Interviews were administered online and by telephone from July 9 through August 5, 2019 in English and Spanish. ... The margin of sampling error including the design effect for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points for adults and 5 percentage points for teens."

Glenn Branch
Short Bio

Glenn Branch is Deputy Director of NCSE.

branch@ncse.ngo