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Dear Friends,

Today we are pleased to release the latest
Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2020. This version updates the maps with 2020 national data and adds two new survey questions: “Global warming should be a ‘high’ or ‘very high’ priority of the next President and Congress” (52% nationally) and “A Presidential candidate’s views on global warming are ‘one of several or the single most important issue to my vote’” (56% nationally).
 
We hope these new maps are helpful as you work to engage your own audiences on this vital issue over the coming weeks and months.

Climate Opinion Map Highlights
 
The new 2020 maps show that most Americans from across the US are convinced that global warming is happening (72% nationally) and human-caused (57% nationally). Every state now has a majority who think global warming is happening; West Virginia has the lowest percentage (59%), while six states plus Washington, D.C. have over 75%. We estimate that only four states lack a majority who understand that global warming is caused mostly by human activities: Kentucky (49%), Wyoming (45%), North Dakota (45%), and West Virginia (45%).

 

Risk perceptions among Americans are also high. Nationally, 63% of Americans say they are “somewhat” or “very” worried about global warming, including majorities in every state except West Virginia (49%). Somewhat fewer Americans think global warming is already harming people in the US now or will within 10 years, with 11 states lacking a majority. Yet, only a minority of Americans (43% nationally) believe that global warming will harm them personally. California, Hawaii, and Washington, DC, however, do have majorities that think global warming will harm them personally.
 

Finally, public support for a range of pro-climate policies is higher than ever, coupled with strong opposition to anti-climate policies. For example, no state has less than 80% support for funding more research into renewable energy sources and no state has more than 40% support for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Moreover, majorities in every state support funding more research on renewable energy sources.
 
You can explore the maps by clicking and zooming into your state, congressional district, metro area, or county. Keep in mind that the margin of error increases as you go to smaller geographic scales (i.e., from state to county levels). Thus, it is not possible to know whether a county estimate of 42% is statistically different than an estimate in a nearby county of, say, 44%. You can also click each shade of color on the legend to highlight just the locations matching that value.
 
For additional details on specific geographic areas see our
Factsheets tool (available in English and Spanish), and for more on the methodology behind the tool, please see the original published paper:
 
Howe, Peter D., Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J., & Leiserowitz, A. (2015) Geographic variation in opinions on climate change at state and local scales,
Nature Climate Change 5, 596-603.
 
Email us at
climatechange@yale.edu with the subject: “YCOM Paper Request” to receive a PDF if you do not have access to Nature journals. Comments and questions are also welcome.
 
As always, thank you for your support!
 
Cheers,
 
Tony
-----
Anthony Leiserowitz, Ph.D.
Director, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Yale School of the Environment
(203) 432-4865
Twitter: 
@ecotone2
environment.yale.edu/climate
yaleclimateconnections.org


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