The public's belief in climate change and its human cause are increasing over time

PLoS One. 2017 Mar 20;12(3):e0174246. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0174246. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Polls examining public opinion on the subject of climate change are now commonplace, and one-off public opinion polls provide a snapshot of citizen's opinions that can inform policy and communication strategies. However, cross-sectional polls do not track opinions over time, thus making it impossible to ascertain whether key climate change beliefs held by the same group of individuals are changing or not. Here we examine the extent to which individual's level of agreement with two key beliefs ("climate change is real" and "climate change is caused by humans") remain stable or increase/decrease over a six-year period in New Zealand using latent growth curve modelling (n = 10,436). Data were drawn from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, a probabilistic national panel study, and indicated that levels of agreement to both beliefs have steadily increased over the 2009-2015 period. Given that climate change beliefs and concerns are key predictors of climate change action, our findings suggest that a combination of targeted endeavors, as well as serendipitous events, may successfully convey the emergency of the issue.

MeSH terms

  • Attitude*
  • Climate Change*
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Models, Statistical
  • New Zealand
  • Public Opinion*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This research was supported by a Templeton World Charity Foundation grant (http://www.templetonworldcharity.org/; ID: 0077) to CGS and a Marsden Fast-Start grant (E1908) from The Royal Society of New Zealand (http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/funds/marsden/) to TLM. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.