Americans Across Communities Want Focus on Climate Change and the Environment
For the 55th annual Earth Day on April 22, EARTHDAY.org outlines an ambitious goal: triple the amount of clean electricity by 2030. Meanwhile, President Trump signed an executive order on April 8 to block climate change policies at the state level. As Reuters reported: “The order directed the U.S. attorney general to identify state laws that address climate change, ESG initiatives, environmental justice and carbon emissions, and to take action to block them.”
Amid the cross purposes, the American Communities Project sought to delve deeper into American attitudes on climate change and the environment by examining a series of questions from the latest MRI-Simmons consumer survey taken from September 2021 to August 2023 and broken down into our 15 community types in fall 2024.
The results show that Americans see the environment and climate change as very important concerns to address. Across communities, residents agree that climate change is a serious threat and overwhelmingly believe the government should pay more attention to environmental issues. By and large they don’t believe people who are worried about the environment are overreacting. And a significant majority in all community types say when it comes to preserving the environment, helping to preserve nature is very important.
On business aspects, there is less convergent thinking. For example, residents are about split on whether any product that pollutes the environment should be banned, while more than a third say a company’s environmental record is important in their purchasing decisions.
Broadly Seen as a Threat
Principally, a significant majority of Americans said they somewhat or completely agree that climate change is a serious threat. Among the community types, the lowest percentages were in the rural Evangelical Hubs and Working Class Country communities at 61% and 63%, respectively. These figures were seen as slightly below average for their rural populations in the South and Appalachia. All other community types were in the mid-60s to mid-70s.
More Government Attention Wanted
Overall, 76% of Americans said they somewhat or completely agree that the government should pay more attention to environmental issues. There was not much deviation among the ACP’s 15 community types, and all 15 fell in the average range for their populations. In Big Cities and Urban Suburbs, the highs were 80% and 79% respectively. In Evangelical Hubs, Working Class Country, and Rural Middle America, community types that are often wary of government intervention, the percentages reached the low 70s.
These new findings track with what Jennifer Marlon of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the Yale School of the Environment told us four years ago after analyzing surveys from the Climate Change in the American Mind project: “Perhaps surprisingly, however, majorities of Americans in every state think citizens and corporations should do more to address global warming. And majorities in all but three states (Wyoming, North Dakota, and West Virginia) think Congress should do more to address global warming as well.”
Environmental Worries Are Not an Overreaction
On the flip side, overreaction to environmental worries is not a shared concern. Just 27% of Americans said they somewhat or completely agree that people who are worried about the environment are overreacting. Agreeing reached the low 30s in Evangelical Hubs and Working Class Country — considered above average for their populations. The African American South and Native American Lands, rural communities struggling with entrenched socioeconomic and demographic divides, were also above average in the 30s.
Majority Agree on Importance of Preserving Nature
At the national level, 64% said helping to preserve nature is very important, and just 11 points separated the 15 community types. Again, Evangelical Hubs and Working Class Country were at the low end with 57% each, while Big Cities were at the high end at 68%. Notably, in both Evangelical Hubs and Working Class Country communities, the percentages with adequate access to locations for physical activity were also at the low end at 48% and 53%, respectively.
Divide on Banning Products that Pollute
Nationally, 54% said they somewhat or completely agree that any product that pollutes the environment should be banned. A split is evident within and between community types, running from 48% in the LDS Enclaves to 58% in the Big Cities.
Just 40% nationally said they somewhat or completely agree that “a company's environmental record is important to me in my purchasing decisions.” This was most voiced by residents in the Big Cities and least in the Evangelical Hubs. Notably, just eight points separated the 15 community types. All places stood above 33%, and none deviated from average range given their populations.
Valuing the Environment
As Americans commemorate Earth Day this week, MRI-Simmons data validate climate change as a serious threat and the environment as a key societal value but show the limits of these concerns on individual purchase-making.