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Despite Varying Regional Effects, Americans Agree on the Severity of Climate Change and the Importance of Combating It
Mackenzie Boughey,
07.30.2021

This summer, record-breaking heat waves and raging wildfires in the western United States have renewed national discussion on the effects of climate change. According to PRRI’s 2020 American Values Survey, more than four in ten Americans (43%) believe that climate change is a critical issue, an additional 35% say that it is one among many important issues. In total, a majority of Americans (78%) agree that climate change is an important issue, while more than one in five Americans (22%) say it is not an important issue. This has not shifted significantly from 2019, when 49% of Americans believed that climate change was critical and 32% said that it was one of many serious issues. Nearly one in five Americans (18%) believed that climate change was unimportant that year. 

In the West, where climate change is forcing high-pressure wind cycles to stall and cause heat waves, nearly half of Americans (48%) believe that climate change is a critical issue, while another 31% believe that it is one of many important issues. One in five Americans in the West (20%) say that climate change is not a key issue. Additional PRRI data shows that nearly two-thirds of people in the West (64%), the most of any region, believe that the effects of climate change will cause a great or moderate amount of harm to them personally.

Climate change is also affecting weather patterns in the Northeast, where overnight temperatures have been increasing as a result of greenhouse gases. Nearly half of Americans in the Northeast (48%) also believe that climate change is a critical issue, while 30% agree that it is an important subject. A majority in the Northeast (55%) say that climate change will result in a great or moderate amount of personal harm to them.

The Midwest is warming at a lesser pace than the east and west coasts, as it is further from rising ocean temperatures and is also facing cooler temperatures generated by slow-moving low-pressure wind cycles. More than four in ten Midwesterners (41%) believe that climate change is a critical issue, while more than one-third (35%) say that it is one of many important issues. More than one in five people in the region (23%) do not believe climate change is important. Nearly six in ten Americans in the Midwest (57%) agree that they will be greatly or moderately affected by climate change and its effects.

Residents of the South are experiencing heating during the day and night, as well as coastal effects in some states, but they are the least likely to say climate change is a critical issue. Less than four in ten Southerners (37%) believe that climate change is an issue of critical importance, and 40% say that it is one of many important issues. Only 22% believe that it is not important, similar to other regions. Additionally, a similar proportion of Southerners (56%) as Northeasterners and Midwesterners believe that climate change will cause a great or moderate amount of personal harm to them. 

While regional attitudes toward climate change are similar, ideological beliefs do divide people, including within regions. Liberals are more likely to believe that climate change is a critical issue than moderates and conservatives. A substantial majority of liberals (76%), compared to 44% of moderates and 17% of conservatives, agree that it is a critical issue. However, more than four in ten moderates (41%) and 35% of conservatives say that climate change is one of many important issues. Nearly half of conservatives (47%) do not agree that it is important.

In the West, nearly half of conservatives (48%) believe that climate change is a critical issue or one of many important issues, while half of conservatives (50%) do not believe that climate change is an important issue. A large majority of Western moderates (86%) and nearly all Western liberals (99%) say climate change is either critical or an important issue. 

Among people in the Northeast, 46% of conservatives, 84% of moderates, and an overwhelming 98% of liberals believe that climate change is either a critical issue or one of many important issues. A majority of Northeastern conservatives (54%) do not believe that climate change is important. 

A slim majority of Midwestern conservatives (51%) believe that the issue of climate change is critical or is one of many important matters, compared to substantial majorities of moderates (84%) and liberals (94%). Nearly half of Midwestern conservatives (49%) do not believe that climate change is an issue. 

In the South, 56% of conservatives and 84% of moderates say that climate change is crucial or that it is one of many important issues, and 95% of liberals agree. More than four in ten Southern conservatives (43%) and 14% of moderates do not believe it is important.

A substantial majority of liberals (82%) and more than six in ten moderates (62%) believe that climate change will cause them a great or moderate amount of personal harm. In comparison, only 32% of conservatives agree. An additional 33% of conservatives do not believe that they will be harmed by climate change at all. 

Nearly three in ten Western conservatives (27%) believe that climate change will cause them a great or moderate amount of personal harm, while majorities of moderates (69%) and liberals (90%) agree. In the Northeast, 32% of conservatives, 56% of moderates, and 78% of liberals believe that they will be greatly or moderately affected by the effects of climate change. More than one-third of Midwestern conservatives (35%) say that they will be greatly or moderately harmed by climate change, while majorities of moderates (57%) and liberals (87%) also agree. In the South, 33% of conservatives believe that they will be greatly or moderately harmed by the effects of climate change. In comparison, 65% of Southern moderates and 76% of liberals agree.