CBS News poll: Eye on Earth — Americans support U.S. engaging globally on climate
As President Biden prepares to host world leaders for a virtual climate summit this week, most Americans continue to think climate change needs to be addressed urgently, and eight in 10 would have the U.S. be at least part of an international response to do so, including those who want the U.S. to lead such an effort. Almost half think the U.S. should lead, and another third would have the U.S. take part if other countries respond too.
More broadly, over half of Americans think climate change needs to be addressed immediately; another one in 10 think it needs to be addressed in the next few years.
And people who see the issue as more urgent overwhelmingly think the U.S. should be engaged globally on the issue.
Some say action on climate can wait or that none needs to be taken. A combined third of Americans feel this way, including most Republicans. The top reasons they give are that they feel climate change is being exaggerated or not really happening (36%); that there are more important issues to deal with right now (31%); that there's nothing we can do about it anyway (23%) and that it costs too much to address (9%).
More CBS News polling for Eye on Earth will be released in the coming days.
This CBS News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 2,003 U.S. residents interviewed between April 13-16, 2021. This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as well as the 2020 presidential vote and registration status. The margin of error is ± 2.8 points.