This Is How America Really Feels About Climate Change: New Model Breaks It Down To The County Level

There have been plenty of reports and coverage about global warming, or climate change, but how do Americans really feel about the phenomenon? Researchers from Yale University and Utah State University created a model that estimates those feelings on a national, state, district and county level. While 63 percent of adults believe global warming is happening, only 48 percent of Americans believe it is caused mostly by human activities.

The researchers collected survey data that included responses from 12,000 Americans. Using this data, they built a statistical model that estimated Americans' feelings about global warming on a very local level. "Decisions about how to respond to issues such as climate change can happen at the state and local level as well as the national level, so we wanted to find out what people think about the issue at these levels," lead author Peter Howe, assistant professor of human-environment geography at Utah State University, said in a statement.

The model has responses for three categories: beliefs, risk perceptions and policy support. Beliefs include responses to statements such as "Global warming is happening" and "Global warming is caused mostly by human activities." Risk perceptions focus on general concerns about climate change -- "worried about global warming" or "global warming will harm me personally." Policy support covers the feelings of Americans on supporting initiatives such as carbon taxes, CO2 regulation and increased funding for renewable energy.

For "Global warming is happening," every state has an estimated percentage above 50 percent -- with West Virginia having the lowest number of people at 54 percent. The district level shows more diversity and support ranging from 53 percent to 77 percent in Georgia, for example. The county level has the most disparity and you can see several areas where the majority of residents are estimated to not believe global warming is happening.

The Yale Climate Opinion Maps can be viewed here. The research was published in the journal Nature Climate Change.