Source: EPIC/AP-NORC Public Opinion Poll.
While political affiliation continues to be associated with views on climate change and human-driven climate change, a generation gap with respect to acceptance of human-driven climate change is emerging among Republicans, according to a new report (PDF) describing the results of the 2025 AP-NORC/EPIC (the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago) Energy Survey.
Asked "Do you think climate change is happening, do you think climate change is not happening, or aren't you sure" (emphasis in original), 73 percent of respondents said that climate change is happening, and 8 percent said that climate change is not happening, while 18 percent were not sure.
Political affiliation was correlated with views on climate change: while 89 percent of Democrats and 72 percent of independents said that climate change is happening, 59 percent of Republicans agreed. But 54 percent of Republicans 45 and older agreed, while 66 percent of Republicans less than 45 agreed.
Respondents who said that climate change is happening were then asked "Do you think climate change is caused entirely by human activities, caused mostly by human activities, caused about equally by human activities and natural changes in the environment, caused mostly by natural changes in the environment, or caused entirely by natural changes in the environment?"
52 percent of respondents said that climate change is caused entirely or mostly by human activities, 36 percent of respondents said that it is caused equally by human activities and natural changes in the environment, and 12 percent said that it is caused mostly or entirely by natural changes in the environment.
Political affiliation was correlated with views on human-driven climate change: while 67 percent of Democrats said that climate change is caused entirely or mostly by human activities, 45 percent of independents and 35 percent of Republicans agreed. But 29 percent of Republicans 45 and older agreed, while 42 percent of Republicans less than 45 agreed.
Over eight years, a generation gap emerged among Republicans, according to EPIC: "In 2017, 26 percent of both young and old Republicans believed in human-driven climate change. Now, while just 29 percent of Republicans over age 45 believe in it, that number is up to 42 percent of young Republicans."
"Data [for the 2025 survey] were collected using both probability and non-probability sample sources. Interviews for this survey were conducted from September 2 [to September] 18, 2025 with 3,154 adults age 18 and older representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia. ... The overall margin of sampling error for the combined sample is +/- 2.4 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level."
