Americans still deny climate change at a higher rate than most countries, poll shows

The United States is still lagging when it comes to accepting the reality of human-induced climate change — though things are looking up.

A new, 23-country survey conducted by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project found that 13 percent of Americans agreed that while the climate is indeed changing, human activity is "not responsible at all." Additionally, 5 percent of Americans said the climate is flat-out not changing. While those numbers don't seem overwhelming, the U.S. did have the third highest denial rate, behind only Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, which polled at 16 and 18 percent, respectively.

Still, the polling data shows that a clear majority of people around the world believe that climate change is a real threat and that humans are at least partially responsible for it.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

And, hey, count the Trump administration among the Americans who believe climate change is occurring — some officials just think it might be a good thing. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that melting ice in the Arctic could open up "new opportunities for trade" and faster sea travel.

The YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project polled 25,325 people from 23 countries through online surveys in February and March. The margin of error was not reported. Read more at The Guardian.