Maybe it's the entire decade straight of record-breaking temperatures, the sight of environmental devastation across the planet, or the multiple extreme weather events that are simultaneously plaguing different parts of the country, but Americans seem to finally be coming around to the idea that climate change is a real problem. New polling conducted by YouGov and The Economist found that Americans now rate climate change as the second most important issue facing the country, with a growing number of people recognizing that the issue is serious and requires addressing.
The rising concern about our warming planet marks the first time since YouGov and The Economist started polling in 2009 that climate change ranked as the second-most important issue in the minds of Americans. With 13% of Americans ranking the issue as their top priority, climate change now trails only health care as the biggest issue facing the country, per the survey. The poll also found that about 2 in 3 Americans are "very" or "somewhat" concerned about the effects of climate change, and that the issue has seen a significant uptick in importance among the general public since President Biden took office in January.
