About two-thirds of Americans say they are worried about climate change. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support funding research into renewable energy, and 3 out of 4 support regulating carbon emissions. More than 60% believe Congress should do more to address climate change, according to data from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
Even in Jack County, Texas, where Donald Trump received 90% of the vote in 2020, 58% support regulating carbon emissions. That’s the lowest of any U.S. county.
Still, climate change remains a deeply polarizing issue within Congress and on the campaign trail.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which the White House called “the most significant climate action in U.S. history,” provided nearly $400 billion for climate solutions. It passed Congress strictly along party lines, with no Republicans voting in favor.
In 2023, Democrats voted for pro-environmental legislation more than 90% of the time, while Republicans voted for pro-environmental legislation less than 5% of the time, according to voting data collected by the League of Conservation Voters.
“We see pretty much across the board, at all levels of government, that government officials dramatically underestimate the level of support from their own constituents,” Tony Leiserowitz, the director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, told CBS News.
Answer the questions below — which are a selection of the same questions asked by the Yale program’s survey to create their Climate Opinion Maps — to see how your beliefs about climate change compare to others in your area and the nation.
ClimateWatch: Climate Change News & Features
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