According (PDF) to the latest Monmouth University Poll, "a large majority of Americans acknowledge climate change is happening, although they are divided on whether human activity is mostly responsible for it." Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute Director Tony MacDonald commented, "The data exposes the extent to which this has become a partisan political issue in the U.S. rather than a scientific issue," yet added, "The polling shows that Americans believe we are all very much in this together."
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," 70% of respondents said yes, 22% said no, and 8% volunteered that they didn't know. Yes answers were more prevalent among Democrats (85%) than Independents (74%) and Republicans (49%), those 18-34 (76%) than those 35-53 (70%) and those 55 or older (63%), and college graduates (77%) than those with only some college (73%) and those with a high school education or less (63%).
Asked "Is climate change caused more by human activity, more by natural changes in the environment, or by both equally," 27% of respondents said more by human activity, 8% said more by natural changes in the environment, 34% said both equally, 1% volunteered that they didn't know, 22% already said that climate change is not happening and 8% 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 December 10 to 13, 2015 with a national random sample of 1,006 adults age 18 and older. This includes 654 contacted by a live interviewer on a landline telephone and 352 contacted by a live interviewer on a cell phone, in English. ... 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 3.1 percentage points (unadjusted for sample design)."