Floods, hurricanes, heat: New poll shows Americans fear rise of extreme weather

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Most Americans fear extreme weather is getting worse, a new Paste BN/Ipsos Poll finds, a concern underscored by the rising death toll from flash floods in central Texas.

As rescue workers frantically searched for survivors in Texas Hill Country, a third of those surveyed nationwide last month said they sometimes or often worry that they themselves will be a victim of a disaster like a hurricane, tornado or flood.

The poll, taken June 13-15, showed both alarm about worsening weather and skepticism that the world would effectively respond to curb it.

A 58% majority predicted that extreme weather events will become more frequent in the near future, though views differed along partisan lines. An overwhelming 84% of Democrats felt that way, compared with just 38% of Republicans.

But even among Republicans, a plurality expressed fears of worsening extreme weather. Just 24% said incidents of extreme weather weren't increasing; another 36% didn't have an opinion or weren't sure.

The online poll of 1,023 adults, taken using Ipsos' KnowledgePanel, has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points for the full sample. The error margin for the Republican subsample is 6.1% and for Democrats 5.9%.

"The majority of Americans agree that events like the tragedy in Texas are becoming more frequent, making the effects of climate change harder to deny," said Mallory Newall, vice president at Ipsos. "The question now is not if severe weather is more common but what, if anything, can be done to slow the effects − or if people in areas prone to disaster can stay in their homes long-term."

Feeling extreme weather where they live

Many Americans said they had felt the effect of dangerous weather in their own lives:

• 30% had personally experienced extreme weather events in the previous month; most frequently mentioned were heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms.

• 57% said unusual weather had become more frequent compared with 10 years ago, especially extreme heat and poor air quality.

• 51% said unusual weather had become more intense compared with 10 years ago; 54% said extreme heat had gotten more intense.

Climate scientists agree that the threat of extreme weather is increasing.

"As Earth's climate changes, it is impacting extreme weather across the planet," a NASA report concludes. "Record-breaking heat waves on land and in the ocean, drenching rains, severe floods, years-long droughts, extreme wildfires, and widespread flooding during hurricanes are all becoming more frequent and more intense."

In recent days, much of Europe has been hit by a sweltering heat wave, reaching record temperatures for June in several countries and prompting a temporary rules change at Wimbledon.

Climate progress underway? Or already too late?

Most Americans were both optimistic that humans could reverse climate change and pessimistic that they'll do it.

A 56% majority of those polled agreed with a statement that "humans can slow/reverse climate change but aren't willing to change their behavior." That included 83% of Democrats but just 33% of Republicans, who tend to be more skeptical of climate change.

One in 5 said it was too late to stop climate change at this point. An almost equal number, 18%, said humans already were making progress against climate change.

And 17% said the impact could be very personal indeed − predicting that climate change will make it more difficult to stay where they currently live.