Climate Change, Oct 2021

NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll

Americans Don’t Think the World or the U.S. is Doing Enough About Climate Change

Majorities of Americans say the global community and the United States are doing too little to address climate change. Nearly six in ten (59%) say the world is doing “too little” and half (50%) say U.S. climate change policies “don’t go far enough.”

U.S. Climate Change Policies
Do you think current U.S. policies aimed at reducing the impact of climate change go too far, don’t go far enough, or are about right?
Source: NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll National Adults. Interviews conducted October 18th through October 22nd, 2021, n=1,209 MOE +/- 4.0 percentage points.
  • When it comes to the global community’s actions, most Democrats (84%) and a majority of independents (59%) say it’s too little. Republicans split nearly equally with 29% saying “too little,” 33% saying “too much,” and 30% saying the efforts are “about the right amount.”

  • While there is a similar partisan divide regarding how Americans think about U.S. policies designed to reduce the impact of climate changethere is uniformly a little less support for the position that these policies “don’t go far enough.”

  • More than three in four Democrats (78%) say American policies don’t go far enough, as do a plurality (49%) of independentsJust 22% of Republicans agree.

“Whether talking about the actions of the global community or current U.S. policies about climate change, there is a wide generational gap,” says Lee M. Miringoff, Director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion." Gen Z and Millennials are far more likely to believe the global community and the U.S. need to step up their efforts to deal with climate change."