Record-high share of US adults see global warming as ‘serous threat’ to themselves: Gallup

A record-high share of U.S. adults say they think global warming will pose a “serious threat” to them in their lifetime, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.

In the survey, conducted in early March, 48 percent of respondents say they think “global warming will pose a serious threat to you or your way of life in your lifetime”— up from 44 percent last year and 46 percent in 2023, the previous record high.

Still, a majority of Americans — 51 percent — say they don’t expect global warming to pose a serious threat to them or their way of life in their lifetime.

But that represents the lowest level ever recorded by Gallup, down from 55 percent last year. The previous record low of 54 percent was recorded in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023.

The gap between those who do and do not see global warming as a serious threat to them has been narrowing steadily since 1997, when 69 percent said they didn’t think global warming would pose a serious threat to them in their lifetime and 25 percent said they did think it would.

Americans today are also more likely than ever to say the effects of global warming “have already begun”— with 63 percent of respondents holding this view in 2025, up from 59 percent last year. The previous record high of 62 percent was recorded in 2017, and 61 percent were recorded as having this view in 2008 and in 2020.

In this year’s survey, 23 percent say the effects of global warming will happen in the future, down from 26 percent last year, and 12 percent say they will never happen, unchanged from last year’s levels. The respondents were asked to select the statement that reflects their view “of when the effects of global warming will begin to happen.”

The already significant partisan divide in responses has deepened in the latest survey.

In 2025, 78 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents say they think global warming will pose a serious threat to them in their lifetime — up from last year, when 70 percent of Democrats and 49 percent of independents held this view.

Only 14 percent of Republicans say the same — unchanged from last year.

More Democrats and independents say this year that the effects of global warming have already begun: 91 percent of Democrats hold this view in 2025, up from 82 percent in 2024, and 66 percent of independents hold this view in 2025, up from 59 percent in 2024.

The share of Republicans in 2025 who say the effects of global warming have begun, 31 percent, is lower than last year, when 35 percent of Republicans held this view.

The survey was conducted on March 3-16 and included 1,002 adults. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.