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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI15052533/00001
Material Information
- Title:
- Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind
- Creator:
- Anthony Leiserowitz
Edward Maibach
Connie Roser-Renouf
Geoff Feinberg
- Affiliation:
- Yale University -- School of Forestry and Environmental Studies -- Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
George Mason University -- Department of Communication -- Center for Climate Change Communication George Mason University -- Department of Communication -- Center for Climate Change Communication Yale University -- School of Forestry and Environmental Studies -- Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
- Publisher:
- Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
- Publication Date:
- 2012-09
Notes
- Summary:
- • A large and growing majority of Americans (74%, up 5 points since our last national survey in
March 2012) say “global warming is affecting weather in the United States.”
• Asked about six recent extreme weather events in the United States, majorities say global
warming made each event “worse.” Americans were most likely to connect global warming to
the record high temperatures in the summer of 2012 (73%).
• Americans increasingly say weather in the U.S. has been getting worse over the past several years
(61%, up 9 percentage points since March).
• A majority of Southerners (56%) say the weather in their local area has been getting worse over
the past few years. Half of Midwesterners (50%) say this as well.
• Half of Americans recall unusual weather events in their local area over the past year (52%).
• Six in ten Americans (61%) recall unusual weather events occurring elsewhere in the United
States in the past year (other than their own local area), perhaps reflecting extensive media
attention to the record-setting drought, high temperatures, and strong storms in the summer of
2012, as well as the unusually warm winter of 2011-2012.
• Half of Americans (51%) say that droughts have become more common in their local area over
the past few decades, an increase of 5 points since last spring. This national change was driven
primarily by a major shift of opinions in the Midwest (66%, up 25 points since March), which
was hit hardest by the summer drought.
• A majority of Americans (58%) say that heat waves have become more common in their local
area over the past few decades, up 5 points since March, with especially large increases in the
Northeast and Midwest (+12 and +15, respectively).
• More than twice as many Midwesterners say they personally experienced an extreme heat wave
(83%, up 48 points since March) or drought (81%, up 55 points) in the past year.
• Northeasterners are more likely to say they personally experienced an extreme heat wave (52%,
up 10 points since March) or drought in the past year (23%, up 6 points).
• Southerners who say they personally experienced an extreme heat wave increased to 61 percent,
from 50 percent in March.
• An increasing number of Americans in the West say they experienced either an extreme heat
wave (49%, up 13 points since March) or drought (41%, up 10 points).
• One in five Americans (20%) says they suffered harm to their health, property, and/or finances
from an extreme heat wave in the past year, a 6 point increase since March. In addition, 15
percent say they suffered harm from a drought in the past year, up 4 points.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the user's responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.
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