It is hardly a surprise, but there you have it: a recent Pew survey tells us who in the US understands climate change and who doesn’t.
Overall, the picture is positive, albeit far from optimal.
By a 54% to 34% margin, more Americans say the priority for addressing the nation’s energy supply should be developing alternative energy sources, such as wind, solar and hydrogen, over increased production of oil, coal and natural gas.
Further, fully 62% favor setting stricter emission limits on power plants in order to address climate change while 28% oppose this. Those who favor stricter emission standards are far more likely to want new climate change policies this year. Nearly half (46%) of those who favor stricter emission standards say new climate policies are essential this year. That compares with just 15% of those who oppose stricter emission standards; 41% of whom say new climate policies should not be done at all.
And, guess who the opposition comes from.
There are strong partisan divides over the country’s energy priorities and setting stricter emission standards. Only a third of Republicans (33%) say the priority should be developing alternative sources, while 54% say expanding production of oil, coal andgas should be the focus. The pattern is reversed among Democrats and independents, with far more saying developing alternative sources should be the priority.
By large margins, Democrats and independents also favor stricter emission limits on power plants in order to address climate change (72% and 64%, respectively). By contrast, Republicans are divided; 42% favor stricter emission standards while 48% are opposed.
The gap is also generational.
There are stark age differences over energy policy priorities. Fully 71% of those younger than 30 give greater priority to developing alternative sources, while just 24% prioritize increased production of oil, coal and gas.
Opinion among older age groups is more divided. Just 39% of those 65 and older prioritize developing alternative sources while 44% say expanding production of oil, coal and gas should be the priority. Age differences are more modest in views of stricter emission limits on power plants to address climate change. Majorities across all age groups, including 70% of those under 30, favor this proposal.
I would love to see the data also broken down by religious affilication and church attendance, but Pew doesn’t give us that information. We already have evidence that the religiously unaffiliated understand the relationship between climate change and extreme weather phenomena better than the public as a whole, whereas evangelical Christians have a worse understanding. Hence, it could be that overall lower levels of religiosity among the youth correlates with their better understanding of climate change.
Maybe it is time for scientific organizations concerned about climate change to drop their futile efforts to appeal to evangelicals and start trying to mobilize the youth and the religiously unaffiliated instead.
