Climate Change in the American Mind: Public Perceptions of the Health Harms of Global Warming, Fall 2024

Drawing on a nationally representative survey (n = 1,013) conducted from December 11 – 22, 2024, this report describes Americans'1 perceptions of the health harms of global warming. This report also compares many of these results to surveys conducted in October 2014 (n = 1,275), December 2018 (n = 1,114), and April 2020 (n = 1,029).

This report focuses on public perceptions of the health harms of climate change and various sources of energy. Global warming is causing many health harms in the United States. Examples include injuries and deaths due to extreme events such as heat waves, wildfires, storms, and floods, the increasing geographic range of infectious diseases, and increasing exposure to air pollution. These harms disproportionately affect low-income people, people of color, and people with health conditions, among other groups.

The survey results reported here assess Americans’ awareness and understanding of the health harms of global warming; their beliefs about who should take action to protect people from these harms; and their trust in various sources of information about these harms. We compare many of the results with prior surveys conducted in 2014, 2018, and 2020.