"An increasing number of Americans believe climate change is occurring, including a majority who now see this issue as a very serious problem," according to the latest Monmouth University Poll. "Scientists have long agreed that climate change is a very serious problem, and it is past time to take action. Now it is clear that a majority of Americans regardless of political party agree," commented Tony MacDonald, the director of the Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University.
Asked "Do you think that the world's climate is undergoing a change that is causing more extreme weather patterns and the rise of sea levels, or is this not happening," 78% of respondents said yes, 16% said no, and 5% volunteered that they didn't know. Yes answers were more prevalent among Democrats (92%) than Independents (78%) and Republicans (64%), those 18-34 (86%) than those 35-54 (75%) and those 55 or older (75%), and college graduates (82%) than non-college graduates (77%).
Asked "Is climate change caused more by human activity, more by natural changes in the environment, or by both equally," 29% of respondents said more by human activity, 10% said more by natural changes in the environment, 37% said both equally, 2% volunteered that they didn't know, 16% already said that climate change is not happening and 5% already said that they were unsure whether climate climate change is happening. The same patterns of responses differing by political affiliation, age, and education were present.
According to the report, the poll "was sponsored and conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute from November 9 and 12, 2018 with a national random sample of 802 adults age 18 and older. This includes 398 contacted by a live interviewer on a landline telephone and 404 contacted by a live interviewer on a cell phone ... For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling has a maximum margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points (unadjusted for sample design)."