A recent CNN segment featuring John Berman and Harry Enten revealed that Americans’ concern about climate change has not significantly increased, even as searches for wildfires have surged to record highs on Google.
Despite extreme weather events over recent decades, data suggests that the connection between these events and climate change remains weak in the public’s mind.
CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten highlighted the disparity between Americans’ interest in wildfires and their concern about climate change.
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“Take a look at the monthly change in Google searches. Look at the searches for wildfire—up 2,400%. My goodness, gracious. This is the most amount of people searching for wildfires ever. Ever, going back since Google Trends began, back in 2004,” Enten said.
However, interest in climate change has not followed the same trend.
“But look at climate change. Look at the change. It doesn’t go hand in hand with wildfires. It’s actually down. It’s down 9%, and I also looked in California—there has been no increase in the number of searches for climate change,” Enten added.
His conclusion: “Americans are definitely interested in learning about these wildfires… but they are not making that connection with climate change. That’s the bottom line here.”
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John Berman explored how Americans’ overall concern about climate change has evolved. “What have we seen over time?” he asked.
Enten noted that despite decades of extreme weather events, concern about climate change remains relatively unchanged. “You go back to 1991—it was 35%. Now, it was a little bit higher in 2007, a little bit higher in 2022, but look at this: in 2023, the last time we have data, 39%. That is not statistically significantly different from this 35% back in 1991,” he explained.
“So despite all these extreme weather events, Americans are really no more worried about climate change than they were—what is that now, nearly 35 years ago?” Enten emphasized.
When asked why concern about climate change hasn’t grown, Enten pointed to Americans’ sense of helplessness.
“Why are they not really worried a lot about climate change? It might be because they feel like there’s not a whole heck of a lot they can do,” he said.
Data on Americans’ beliefs about human contributions to climate change also shows a decline.
“Again, there’s no real trend line here over the last few years—2019, 49%; 2020, 49%; 2023, 46%; 2024, 45%. That’s actually down four points from where we were back in 2019. And so less than a majority of Americans believe that humans contribute a great deal to climate change,” Enten explained.
He concluded, “That is a big reason why they don’t worry a lot. They just don’t feel like they can do anything.”
Berman summarized the apparent disconnect: “So the trend line is going down, even as scientists say that the intensity of the storms and these conditions are getting worse.”
Enten agreed, noting, “Even as the extreme weather goes up, humans are not exactly as worried about climate change as they necessarily once were.”
Watch the video:
On CNN: ‘My Goodness, Gracious,’ People Don’t Care About the Climate Change Narrative…
A recent CNN segment featuring John Berman and Harry Enten revealed that Americans’ concern about climate change has not significantly increased, even as searches for wildfires have surged… pic.twitter.com/NGCAVJbKEK
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The segment underscores a persistent gap between the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and Americans’ concern about climate change.
While public interest in wildfires has surged, a lack of perceived solutions and skepticism about human contributions to climate change appear to be key factors keeping concern stagnant.
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