90% of Floridians imagine local weather change is occurring

The Florida Local weather Resilience Survey additionally reveals perception in human-caused local weather change has surged amongst Florida Independents whereas slipping amongst Republicans within the state since final fall.

However regardless of these modifications, the most recent version of the survey discovered enduring assist amongst Floridians for elevated authorities motion to deal with the implications of a warming planet. The survey discovered 68% of all respondents need state authorities to do extra and 69% need the federal authorities to do extra to deal with local weather change, a discovering according to earlier surveys.

“Floridians assist strengthening our resilience to the consequences of local weather change as a result of they’re experiencing it. The urgency to behave means debate over causes is essentially irrelevant,” stated Colin Polsky, Ph.D., founding director of FAU’s College of Environmental, Coastal, and Ocean Sustainability (ECOS), a professor in geosciences, and director of the FAU Heart for Environmental Research (CES) throughout the Charles E. Schmidt Faculty of Science.

Among the many 58% of Floridians who imagine human exercise is the reason for local weather change, the survey discovered altering attitudes primarily based on occasion affiliations. Amongst Floridians who report no occasion affiliation, perception that local weather change is brought on by human exercise elevated by 11% for the reason that final survey in September 2023 (to 64% within the newest survey). However perception in human-caused local weather change amongst Florida Republicans declined throughout that point, dropping to 40% from 45%.

The survey additionally discovered noteworthy variations in opinion primarily based on the age of the respondents. Respondents underneath age 50 had been extra more likely to imagine that human exercise is the reason for local weather change than these 50 and older (66% to 50%) and extra more likely to need state authorities to do extra to deal with its impacts (77% to 59%).

“International warming grew to become a significant public problem in 1988. The age 50 cutoff is due to this fact a great proxy for separating folks whose youth included this problem versus those that didn’t,” stated Polsky.

The most recent survey discovered that 67% of Floridians imagine local weather change needs to be taught in colleges. Greater than two-thirds of respondents have supported local weather training in school rooms in 9 of the ten surveys carried out since 2019.

Florida Democrats (87%) and independents (68%) expressed the best stage of assist for local weather training within the newest survey, however even a majority of Republicans expressed this perception (52%).

“This abiding majority assist for Ok-12 instructing local weather change confirms the premise that Floridians need extra local weather change consciousness and motion whatever the trigger,” stated Polsky.

The survey additionally discovered falling assist for solar energy as the first type of power manufacturing that Florida needs to be supporting for the long run: 51% of all respondents assist that assertion, a lower of 4% since final fall.

This decline has been taking place since photo voltaic power reached peak assist of 62% in September 2022, however the current drop was most pronounced amongst Florida Republicans. Whereas assist for photo voltaic remained constant amongst Florida Democrats and independents for the reason that final survey, such assist fell 9% amongst Republican respondents.

General, most respondents stated that local weather change sparked their concern for the well-being of future generations (68%). However lower than half of all respondents (48%) stated they’d be prepared to pay $10 a month to strengthen Florida’s infrastructure to climate hazards.

CES has carried out the Florida Local weather Resilience Survey since October 2019 and now does so each spring and fall. The most recent version was carried out in English and Spanish from March 18-21. The pattern consisted of 1,400 Floridians, ages 18 and older, with a survey margin of error of +/- 2.53 proportion factors.