Americans don’t have a clear idea of which of their actions have the strongest impact on climate change
Washington, DC, December 16, 2022 — Majorities of Americans think recycling, using energy efficient appliances, and carpooling have a large or moderate effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by a single person, despite research showing that these don’t make as much of a difference. The public is split on the impact of avoiding long flights, lowering the room temperature, buying fewer things, and installing a heat pump. Far fewer believe that changing their diet through eating vegetarian, vegan, or organic food has a large or moderate impact on a single person’s emissions, even as outside research indicates that these actions can have a sizeable impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Through it all, across nearly all of these actions, partisan divisions exist.
To learn more about this, visit the interactive quiz the New York Times put together here.
Detailed findings:
- Majorities of Democrats feel that most of the actions tested can have a large or moderate effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions for a single person. Changing diets—either by eating vegetarian, vegan, or organic foods—is the one place where fewer than half of Democrats feel that there would be a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The public's perceptions here don't match with outside research, which suggests changes to diet do significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- On the other hand, recycling is the only action a majority of Republicans (61%) feel would have a large or moderate effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Other research indicates recycling does little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Independents are mixed between these two groups, leaning more towards Democrats.
About the Study
This NYTimes/Ipsos poll was conducted December 9 – 12, 2022, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,023 general population adults age 18 or older.
The margin of sampling error for this study is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.17. The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on other sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.
The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult US population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the US. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.
The data for the total sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, household income, and party identification. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2021 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The party identification benchmark comes from ABC News.
- Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
- Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
- Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor or higher)
- Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
- Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
- Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
- Party Identification (Democrat, Republican, Independent)
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, U.S.
+1 202 420-2025
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