Florida Climate Resilience Survey - January 2020
FAU Poll Shows Florida Democrats, Republicans and Independents Concerned About Impact of Climate Change on Future Generations
Republican Support for Teaching Climate Change in Schools Jumps
Floridians from all major political parties believe climate change is real and are concerned about its impact on future generations in the state, according to the second Florida Climate Resilience Survey, conducted by the Florida Atlantic University Center for Environmental Studies (CES) in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, and the Business and Economics Polling Initiative (BEPI) in FAU’s College of Business. This quarterly statewide survey shows that 86 percent of Floridians believe climate change is happening, including 81 percent of Republicans, 91 percent of Democrats and 87 percent of Independents.
Highlights
- A majority of respondents are in favor teaching climate change causes, consequences, and solutions in Florida K-12 classrooms (72%), (up four points from 68% in the October poll), including 67% of Republicans (a noticeable 10-point jump from 57% in October).
- Only 1 in 3 Floridians (33%) agree or strongly agree that Florida’s government (state, county, and municipal) is already doing enough to address the impacts of climate change, a five-point jump from October’s poll, fueled by 45% of Florida Republicans in January approving of the state’s climate change policies to date.
- More than half of Floridians (55%) state that climate change is real and that it is largely caused by human activity, including 44% of Republicans, 91% of Democrats, and 51% of Independents.
- About 1 in 3 Floridians (37%) responded that climate change is caused by natural changes in the environment, including 37% of Republicans, 22% of Democrats, and 36% of Independents.
- Among Republicans age appears to play a role in how much more likely they are to say that climate change is largely caused by human activity (18-34 years old: 52%; 35-49 years old: 47%; 50-64 years old: 47%; and 65+: 31%).
- A majority of Floridians (56%) identify solar as the primary form of energy production that the state should be supporting for the future, including 64% of Democrats, 57% of Independents and 47% of Republicans), a rise in five points since scoring 51% in the first survey.
- Almost half of respondents are willing to pay $10 per month to strengthen Florida’s infrastructure (such as bridges, roads, stormwater systems) to weather hazards (47%, no significant change from the October poll).
Methodology
The survey was conducted in both English and Spanish from Jan. 7-21. The sample consisted of 1,044 Floridians, 18 years of age and older, with a margin of error of +/- 3.0 percent. The data was collected using an online panel provided by Dynata. Responses for the entire sample were weighted to adjust for gender, race, income, education and region according to recent U.S. Bureau of the Census data. It is important to remember that subsets carry with them higher margins of error, as the sample size is reduced. For more information, survey results, and full cross-tabulations, visit www.ces.fau.edu/ces-bepi/ or contact Colin Polsky, Ph.D., at cpolsky@fau.edu.
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