The number of Americans that believe climate change is a crisis is growing, according to a new poll by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Nearly 80% of respondents stated that “yes, human activity is causing the climate to change.” 38% of respondents described climate change as “a crisis” and the same percentage described it as “a major problem.” Five years ago only a quarter of poll participants described climate change as a crisis.
Furthermore, those that participated in the poll also expressed a deep disappointment in the way President Trump and his administration are handling the climate crisis.
Nearly 8 in 10 Americans said they believe human activity is fueling climate change and half of them believe action is urgently needed within the next decade. 12% said that it’s already too late.
Nearly half of those (48%) that participated said that reducing the negative effects of global warming and climate change will require ordinary Americans to make minor sacrifices. 37% said it would require. major sacrifices and 14% said it will not require much sacrifice.
Overall, respondents were more likely in favor of increasing the taxes on wealthy households and companies in order to fund climate initiatives rather than paying for it out of their own pockets through things such as gas tax.
Nearly 70% said that climate action should come from increasing taxes on wealthy households, about 60% supported raising taxes on companies that burn fossil fuels, and only about 40% support increasing the national debt to pay for programs.
The poll also dealt with respondent’s feelings of approval or disapproval towards Trump. The president’s handling of climate change scored the highest level of disapproval among six issues. 67% of respondents said that they are unhappy with how Trump is tackling climate change. 66% said that Trump is doing too little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by nearly the same amount (56%) said the same about the Democratic Party.
The poll also found that almost twice as many Americans trust the Democratic Party (38%) to handle climate change versus how many trusts the Republican Party (17%). 35% said they trust neither party to handle the issue.
The poll was conducted online and by telephone between July 9 and August 5, 2019 among 2,293 adults ages 18 and over and 629 teenagers ages 13-17.
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