How does Georgia feel about climate change? How does this differ from the national view?

The beliefs and attitudes of Georgians varies widely, and this variation has been measured in Yale’s Climate Opinions Survey through the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. This program provides insights into U.S. public opinion regarding climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy preferences through estimating percentages based on survey results. Broadly, they’re generated through a statistical model that employs multilevel regression with post-stratification (MRP), utilizing a substantial national survey dataset with over 28,000 participants, as well as demographic and geographic population characteristics.

General takeaways from the report include:

  • Americans who think global warming is happening outnumber those who think it is not happening by a ratio of nearly 5 to 1 (74% vs 15%).
  • A majority of Americans understand that global warming is mostly human-caused. By contrast, 28% think it caused by mostly natural changes in the environment.
  • Only one in five (20%) of Americans understand how strong the level of consensus among scientists is (i.e., that more than 90% of climate scientists think human-caused global warming in happening).
  • About half of Americans (47%) think people in the United States are being harmed by global warming “right now,” and nearly as many (44%) say they have personally experienced the effects of global warming.
  • About half of Americans (52%) say they hear about global warming in the media about once a month or more frequently. Fewer (23%) say they hear people they know talk about global warming about once a month of more frequently.
  • Most Americans (56%) think extreme weather poses either a “high” (18%) or “moderate” (38%) risk to their community over the next 10 years.
  • Georgians line up with most Americans on almost every one of these points.

Georgia’s Beliefs and Attitudes

Since we’re focusing on the beliefs/attitudes of Georgians broadly, we’re focusing on four key questions from the survey:

Global warming is happening
Recently, you may have noticed that global warming has been getting some attention in the news. Global warming refers to the idea that the world’s average temperature has been increasing over the past 150 years, may be increasing more in the future, and that the world’s climate may change as a result. What do you think: Do you think that global warming is happening?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Don’t know

71% of Georgians answered “Yes” to that question. The majority of Georgians, in every county (as seen below), believe global warming is happening.

Georgia is only slightly behind the curve compared to the rest of the country as of Spring of 2023. 74% nationwide believe (see below) that global warming is happening.

Global warming is caused mostly by human activities

Assuming global warming is happening, do you think it is… ?

  • Caused mostly by human activities
  • Caused mostly by natural changes in the environment
  • None of the above because global warming isn’t happening
  • Other
  • Don’t know

Georgians, seem to have mixed opinions that global warming is human-caused. They are more likely to attribute global warming to humans if they live in counties where a metro anchor city is located (e.g. Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah, Columbus, Macon, Warner Robins, Athens, Gainesville, Albany, and Valdosta). They are much less likely to state that global warming is human-caused (or isn’t happening, or that they’re unsure) in they live in exurban or rural counties.

Compared to the national data, Georgia lags seven percentage points in attributing climate change to human actions.

Most scientists think global warming is happening
Which comes closest to your own view?

  • Most scientists think global warming is happening
  • There is a lot of disagreement among scientists about whether or not global warming is happening
  • Most scientists think global warming is not happening
  • Don’t know enough to say

Interestingly, despite the estimated percentage being only 1 percentage point lower as to whether a Georgian thinks global warming is human-caused, the map looks quite different. This is because the percentage differences are quite marginal. In Hall County, for example, 50.7% believe global warming is human caused, but only 49.2% believe that there’s a scientific consensus. What this tells us is that these counties are highly divided. This division is further emphasized in the national data. However, since the 2010s the trend line is consistently going up in terms of belief in the scientific consensus on global warming.


Global warming is affecting the weather in the United States

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the statement below?

  • Strongly agree
  • Somewhat agree
  • Somewhat disagree
  • Strongly disagree

The belief that global warming is affecting the weather is a belief a majority of Georgians hold, but 6/10 is still a slim majority.

About two-thirds of Americans (65%) think global warming is affecting weather in the United States, including a majority (58%) who think global warming is affecting U.S. weather either “a lot” (33%) or “some” (25%). This is where Georgia is in lock-step with the rest of the country: A majority in both Georgia and the broader nation believe that global warming is happening and that global warming is affecting the weather. It is only once one starts getting into more detail “beyond” those questions that Georgians start deviating from the nation average..