Concern About Climate Change

Two-thirds of New Jerseyans are either “very” (37 percent) or “somewhat” (30 percent) concerned about the effects of climate change on their life, their family members, or the people around them. Fifteen percent are “not very” concerned, and 18 percent are “not concerned at all.”

Some groups are more concerned than others. Women (73 percent), non-white residents (73 percent), and those with higher levels of education (75 percent) are all more likely than their counterparts to be concerned about the impact of climate change.

Climate change concern is also starkly divided along partisan lines. Most Democrats have some level of worry, with a slight majority expressing the highest concern (53 percent “very,” 28 percent “somewhat”). A slight majority of Republicans, on the other hand, feel just the opposite: 20 percent are “not very” concerned, and 37 percent are “not concerned at all.” But four in ten Republicans do express some level of worry (12 percent “very,” 31 percent “somewhat”). Independents are somewhere in the middle, with more than two-thirds saying they are concerned at some level (37 percent “very,” 32 percent “somewhat”) and the remainder split evenly between “not very” concerned and “not concerned at all.”