New Poll: Two-Thirds of Voters Say Climate-Fueled Extreme Weather is Now a Kitchen Table Issue
tags
Washington, D.C. — Climate change is real, it’s happening today, and it’s now a kitchen table issue for a large majority of likely voters, including a majority of Republican voters, according to a new poll released today by Data for Progress and Climate Power.
“From record heat to wildfire smoke, climate-fueled extreme weather events are impacting the daily lives of people in every corner of America,” said Climate Power executive director Lori Lodes. “We’re scrambling to adjust to more extreme weather and getting used to looking at the air quality forecast before we send our kids to school every morning. Climate change isn’t coming, it’s here – and it’s come to our kitchen tables. Speeding up the clean energy transition is the only way to avoid even more catastrophic warming, and that is exactly what is happening across the country thanks to President Biden’s clean energy plan.”
The survey found that two-thirds of voters (67%) say that “the impacts of climate change and extreme weather are kitchen table issues in my household” that they either sometimes or often think and talk about.
- 1-in-4 voters say they “often” think and talk about climate change and extreme weather events in their households.
- 81% of Democrats, 62% of Independents and 51% of Republicans say that the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events are kitchen table issues in their households.
You can read a full memo on the poll here.
Extreme Weather Scorching the Globe
The Earth is currently experiencing what is likely to be the hottest month on record, heat so extreme that scientists say it would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change. The planet has probably not been this hot in more than 120,000 years.
The impact of this extreme heat is not merely theoretical, it’s real life.
- More than 100 million Americans have routinely been under heat warnings over the past few weeks.
- Phoenix, where residents are receiving third-degree burns from sidewalks and pavement, will be the first major city in the U.S. to average 100 degrees for an entire month and has seen a record 26 days (and counting) with highs above 115 degrees.
- In the Southeast, sea surface temperatures of over 100 degrees, which would be a world record, have been observed this week off the coast of Florida.
- Wildfire smoke from Canada has blanketed large portions of the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic with dangerously unhealthy air throughout the summer.