Global Warming To Blame For Extreme Weather Say Majority Of Americans: A Poll

More and more Americans are blaming extreme weather on climate change, according to a nationally-representative survey conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.

In all, 1,045 individuals over the age of 18 were asked if they believed “global warming is affecting weather in the United States,” 74 percent of which said yes, indicating an increase of 5 percentage points since the last national survey conducted by the groups in March 2012.

A total of 61 percent said weather in the United States has been getting worse over the past several years, up 9 percentage points from last year.

Similarly, 61 percent said they recalled unusual weather events occurring elsewhere in the United States, whereas 52 percent said they recalled unusual weather events in their local area.

Half of the participants said that droughts have become more common in their local area over the past few decades, an increase of 5 points since 2012. This was largely driven by a major shift of opinion in the Midwest where 66 percent of those polled said droughts were more common where they lived, up a total of 25 points from March 2012.

Furthermore, 83 percent of Midwesterners said they personally experienced an extreme heat wave, compared to 35 percent in 2012.

A total of 52 percent of Northeasterners said they personally experienced an extreme heat wave, compared to 42 percent last March.

Furthermore, 81 percent of those from the same region said they experienced drought in the last year. This number was 55 percentage points lower last year.

Nor was the West spared: 49 percent said they experienced an extreme heat wave within the last year, compared to 36 percent the year before.

Ultimately, 20 percent of those polled said they suffered harm to their “health, property, and/or finances” due to an extreme heat in the past year, up from 6 percentage points from March 2012.