Provided by: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Scientific Reports Grades 9-12, ap-college
Synopsis
This report from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication shows the results from a survey given to roughly 1,000 people following the 2024 election to determine their opinions about climate change actions, policies, and energy production topics.
The results reveal the opinions of those surveyed about civic actions, government responses to climate change, the priorities of government policies, the economy, environmental justice, climate education, and other topics relating to climate change.
Authors: Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Seth Rosenthal, John Kotcher, Emily Goddard, Jennifer Carman, Teresa Myers, Marija Verner, Jennifer Marlon, Matthew Goldberg, Joshua Ettinger, Julia Fine and Kathryn Thier
The Executive Summary provides all pertinent information, allowing classes with limited time to access the information.
The full report offers charts that help students visualize how each political group of participants responded to the questions.
Prerequisites
Students should be familiar with climate change, related policies, and solutions.
Differentiation & Implementation
Before reading the results of the survey, if students have some background knowledge about climate change, teachers can ask students if they agree or disagree with the statements and then have them see how their answers compare to the survey results.
A portion of the survey references the Inflation Reduction Act and the Paris Climate Agreement. If students are unfamiliar with these, they can use the CFR Education: The Inflation Reduction Act and CFR Education: The Paris Agreement resources to gain familiarity. Additionally, students can research what has happened with these and other climate legislation recently.
In many cases, the majority of those surveyed support climate change policies. Assuming this sample is an accurate reflection of the voting population, students can discuss outside factors that limit government climate action despite voters' desires. Students can also compare this data with the data on participants' willingness to participate in civic action and the percentage of participants who have contacted their government officials.
The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication conducts scientific research on public opinion and behavior. They also engage the public in climate change science and solutions, in partnerships with governments, media, companies, and civil society.
Related Teaching Resources
All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.