Explore Climate Change in the American Mind

• This interactive graph shows Americans' beliefs on climate change and how they differ over time, by demographic indicators, and by political affiliation.
• The data includes a description, the methodology, and the survey questions asked.

Positives

• This resource shows the similarities and differences in views about climate change over time by demographic, age, political affiliation, and education level.

• The graph is simple to toggle by question type and voter status.

Additional Prerequisites 

• Students should have a basic understanding of climate change. If looking at specific policies, teachers can preview the terms pollutants, renewable energy, and CO₂.

Differentiation 

• Students can analyze why the graph shows that 73% of adults believe climate change is happening, but only 43% believe climate change will affect them personally.
• Students can be given independent time to explore the data and answer questions of interest.
• Students can be grouped and asked to work on the following questions:
  • What surprised you about this data?
  • What didn't surprise you?
  • How has this data changed over time?
  • How do education level, age, and political affiliation change how people view the climate crisis?
  • Only adults over 18 were polled. If the scientists interviewed high school students, how do you think this data would change?

• Other resources related to these topics include this lesson plan about public opinion and bias around climate change and this tool to generate customizable data on U.S. climate opinions.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.