Americans experience a false social reality by underestimating popular climate policy support by nearly half

This study investigates whether Americans accurately perceive national concern about climate change and support for mitigating policies. Using a representative sample of Americans (N = 6119), researchers found a "false social reality": a near-universal underestimation of public support for major climate change mitigation policies and climate concern. While 66–80% of Americans support these policies, they estimate the prevalence to be only 37–43%. Misperceptions are linked to factors such as political affiliation (conservatives underestimate more), exposure to conservative local norms, and consumption of conservative news.

Gregg Sparkman, Nathan Geiger, Elke U. Weber