皮尤研究中心的一项新民意调查发现，大多数美国成年人认为目前减轻气候变化影响的努力是不够的。
调查中67%的成年人表示，他们认为联邦政府在减少全球气候变化的影响方面做得太少了，尽管对这个问题的态度在政党路线上明显变坏了。
民主党人中压倒性的人口普查——占被调查者的90%——围绕着当前政府行动的不足而形成。另一方面，只有39%的共和党人同样认为政府没有充分应对气候变化。
尽管党派分歧仍然很大，但特别考虑到年轻共和党人的态度，这种分歧就不那么明显了。该党的大多数千禧一代成员和年轻一代认为联邦政府做得不够。
尽管对政府在应对气候危机中的作用持怀疑态度，但民主党人和共和党人更倾向于认同市场在引领改革努力中的作用。77%的美国成年人，包括62%的共和党人，认为开发替代能源比扩大化石燃料的使用更重要。同样，90%的民主党人表示了同样的观点。
皮尤调查发现，当调查更深入时，基于政治倾向，人们对联邦政府干预经济的看法大相径庭。此外，人们普遍怀疑气候政策能否给经济带来积极变化。
81%的自由民主党人、64%的温和民主党人、49%的温和共和党人和25%的保守共和党人认为政府旨在减缓气候变化的政策弊大于利。
但是当被问及这些政策对美国经济的影响时，只有自由民主党人以多数表示经济会受益。总体而言，许多美国人认为支持气候变化的政策“没有什么区别”尽管如此，受访者在这一问题上的意见大致相当，分为三类，就经济影响表达支持、中立和反对干预的观点。
虽然年轻的共和党人是党内最有可能支持政府应对气候变化行动的一群人，并且相信这些政策是有效的，但在经济怀疑论方面，他们仍然与老党员保持一致。46%的年轻共和党成员认为支持气候的政策会损害经济。大多数年长的共和党人也有同样的想法。
尤其是共和党人，他们最不愿意在个人生活中做任何事情来保护环境。只有16%的人愿意少吃肉，35%的人为了保护环境经常拼车。共和党女性在日常生活中支持个人对环境做出贡献的可能性要高出20个百分点，比如减少食物浪费和减少一次性塑料的使用。
另一方面，民主的男子和妇女对个人对环境的贡献表达了基本上相似的偏好，他们压倒性地支持大多数努力。唯一没有赢得两个民主党阵营大多数支持的行为改变是少吃肉的提议。只有43%的民主党人说他们为了保护环境少吃肉。
AMERICANS THINK GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO MORE TO PROTECT ENVIRONMENT, BUT ATTITUDES VARY WIDELY BY PARTY
Amajority of U.S. adults believe that current efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change are not sufficient, a new poll from the Pew Research Center has found.
Sixty-seven percent of adults in the survey indicated that they believe the federal government is doing too little to reduce the effects of global climate change, though attitudes towards this question broke down starkly along party lines.
An overwhelming census among Democrats—at 90 percent of those surveyed—formed around the inadequacy of current government action. On the other hand, just 39 percent of Republicans similarly felt the government was insufficiently addressing climate change.
While still substantial, the partisan divide is less significant when considering the attitudes of younger Republicans specifically. A slight majority of millennial members of the party and younger generations think the federal government is not doing enough.
Despite skepticism about the government's role in addressing the climate crisis, Democrats and Republicans are more inclined to agree about the role of markets in spearheading reform efforts. Seventy-seven percent of U.S. adults, including 62 percent of Republicans, think developing alternative energy sources is more important than expanding the use of fossil fuels. Again, 90 percent of Democrats indicated the same.
When probed more deeply, federal government interventions into the economy are perceived much differently based on political leanings, the Pew survey found. Moreover, there was widespread skepticism that climate policy could yield positive changes to the economy.
Government policy aimed at mitigating climate change is thought to produce more good than harm by 81 percent of liberal Democrats, 64 percent of moderate Democrats, 49 percent of moderate Republicans and 25 percent of conservative Republicans.
But when queried about the effects of these policies on the U.S. economy, only liberal Democrats indicated by majority that the economy would benefit. A plurality of Americans, overall, felt that pro-climate policies would "make no difference." Although, respondents were somewhat evenly divided on the question, sorting into three roughly comparable categories expressing pro-, neutral and anti-interventionist views as concerns economic impacts.
While younger Republicans were the most likely cohort within the party to support government action on climate change and believe that these policies can be effective, they still align with their older counterparts on economic skepticism. A plurality—at 46 percent—of younger GOP members think that pro-climate policies will hurt the economy. Majorities of older Republicans think the same.
Republican men, specifically, were the least inclined to do anything in their personal lives to protect the environment. Only 16 percent were receptive to eating less meat and 35 percent regularly carpooled in order to safeguard the environment. Republican women were around 20 points more likely to support each individual contribution one could make to the environment in their daily lives, such as reducing food waste and using fewer single-use plastics.
Democratic men and women, on the other hand, expressed substantially similar preferences as each other towards individual contributions to the environment, and they overwhelmingly supported most efforts. The only behavioral change that didn't earn a majority endorsement from both Democratic cohorts was the proposition of eating less meat. Only 43 percent of Democratic men said they eat less meat to protect the environment.
