American Climate Values 2014: psychographic and demographic insights
- Abstract
This first release contains basic demographic findings on climate change as well as the general 2014 values findings.The demographic findings, on pages 7-20, are dominated by political findings. Republicans are quite divided on the reality, causes and consequences of climate change, while Democrats have a more uniform perspective. In fact, in some cases the differences among self-identified Republicans are even greater than the differences between the parties.On pages 19-20 we summarize core American values on climate change. These themes keep coming back over and over again on our surveys. Anyone seeking success on connecting with Americans on climate change needs to keep them in mind.Then, on pages 21-28 we review the new values findings of American Climate Values 2014. It’s disappointing to learn that belief or concern about climate change does not correlate to personal or public policy behaviors, or that most Americans perceive climate change as an elitist issue. But it is empowering to know that if we can correlate climate solutions to benefits for America and Americans, we can probably earn their support.All this learning points in certain directions for building public support and political will for climate solutions.There are some basics here, like “family first” and “afraid to stray” that work well with all Americans. Others though, like “no shared common sense on climate” or “tribal engagement,” imply that we need a more diverse approach. The battle on climate change will heat up heading into COP 21 in Paris and the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. We need everyone’s best efforts to build public support and political will for solutions. We hope the results of ACV2014 are helpful to you in these endeavors.
- Resource Type
- Report
- Authors
- Perkowitz Speiser Harp Hodge Krygsman
- Date
- March 2014
- Institution
- ecoAmerica and Strategic Business Insights
- Organization Type
- Ngo
- Other
- Climate communication/messaging Public opinion