A new survey from the progressive polling firm Data for Progress reveals that a majority of American voters are connecting increasingly severe weather events to the climate crisis, despite political efforts to dismiss global heating.
The study, reported by The Guardian, found that 61% of likely voters believe extreme weather events have become more frequent over the past five years.
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This includes 72% of Democrats, 63% of Independents, and 46% of Republicans, suggesting a potential entry point for bipartisan climate conversations.
Heatwaves Top Climate Concerns
Grace Adcox, senior climate strategist at Data for Progress, noted that attempts to polarize climate concerns may not be fully succeeding.
"We started with the question of our extreme weather events increasing, because we thought [that] if we can find consensus on that, that can be an entry point to being able to have a more bipartisan conversation about climate and climate intervention," she said.
Adcox explained that heatwaves topped the list of climate-linked concerns at 67%, likely due to the massive regional footprint of unusually hot days across the United States.
"There are regional differences across experiences with extreme weather," said Adcox.
"Extreme heat happens to have the biggest footprint in the American context compared to some of these other types of extreme weather."
The strategist suggested that these severe conditions could serve as an effective starting point to engage skeptical populations regarding climate issues.
"You can say, hey, this extreme heat event is crazy, so let's talk about it, let's talk about why it's happening," she said.
