"A majority of Americans continue to see a connection between human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels, and global climate change," according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center. "However, there is no public consensus on the strength of the connection."
Asked "How much do you think human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels, contributes to global climate change?" 47 percent of respondents preferred "a great deal," 29 percent preferred "some," 17 percent preferred "not too much," and 6 percent preferred "not at all." The pattern of responses was not substantially different in the three preceding years.
A partisan divide was evident. Among respondents who indicated that they were Democrats or leaned Democratic, 71 percent preferred "a great deal," with 81 percent of liberal Democrats doing so; among respondents who indicated that they were Republicans or leaned Republican, 17 percent preferred "a great deal," with 11 percent of conservative Republicans doing so.
The poll was administered to 10,237 adults in an online panel between January 24 and January 30, 2022. Results were demographically weighted. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 10,237 respondents is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.
