Buckle up! Let’s see how the world went from “What’s climate change?” to “Can we survive it?”
In 1967, scientists created the first climate model, which was basically Earth’s “forecast” for the next several decades. By 1968, Dr. John Mercer warned the world about melting ice caps, but the public reaction was mostly “ice…melting? Okay, but there’s plenty in the freezer, right?” In fact, in 1969, only 2% of U.S. adults thought “changes in weather or climate” were serious issues. That was from an Opinion Research Corporation Poll.
Fast-forward to 1988, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is formed, just in time for one of the hottest summers on record. That same year, 47% of U.S. adults in a Parents Magazine-Kane, Parsons & Associates, Inc. poll thought that climate change wouldn’t show up until future generations, while 42% started to think they might feel the heat in their lifetimes. By 1989, a Union of Concerned Scientists-Reasearch/Strategy/Management poll found that 20% of people said they were “extremely worried” about global warming. Still, 14% shrugged and said they’re “not worried at all.”
By 1997, most people still weren’t too concerned. In a CBS News/New York Times Poll, 10% blamed weird weather on El Nino or global warming, while 34% say they hadn’t heard much about the topic at all.
Then came Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006, a documentary credited with sparking a global decarbonization movement. That year, Pew found two-thirds of U.S. adults said they could find the information they needed on climate change. But when asked to name a specific website, 58% drew a blank.
Just a few years later, the tide seemed to change. In a 2009 University of Maryland survey, 52% thought other countries would follow if the U.S. led on climate action, and 82% said it was our responsibility to act.
But just a month later that same year, Pew found a huge DROP in the number of Americans saying there was “solid evidence” of global warming from 79% in 2006 to 57% in 2009. Was it skepticism fueled by the Great Recession? Political polarization? Either way, this marked a dramatic shift.
The Paris Agreement of 2016 brought some hope to the world as 195 nations came together to reduce carbon emissions. But then, President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accords.
After Joe Biden won in 2020, the U.S. reupped government efforts to deal with climate change but Americans were pretty divided about it all.
Gallup Poll in 2021 found 59% of Americans said global warming effects were already here — but there was a large partisan divide:
82% of Democrats said this, 59% of independents agreed, but just 29% of Republicans thought the same.
Jump to 2024, and an AP/NORC University of Chicago Poll showed 78% of Americans now “believe” in climate change, but fewer, 54%, think it’s human-driven. And in both cases, a vast partisan divide is evident.
Climate change is no longer a question of “if” but more “how.” How do we adapt, slow, and overcome the challenges posed by global warming? The data shows a clear course: awareness is growing, but division remains. Our greatest challenge, bridging these gaps, remains.
This post was written by Marist Poll Media Team member Hunter Petro.