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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Are Republican voters growing more concerned about climate change?

Saturday, August 22, 2020

By Allegra Taylor

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Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, Pew Research has found no significant change in views on climate policy since 2016. The share of Democratic voters responding that climate change should be a top priority increased from 56% in 2016 to 78% in January of this year, Pew found. With shifts by Democrats and some independents, the number of those concerned about climate change overall rose from 38% to 52%.

Another study looked at attitudes towards the Green New Deal. In December 2018 81% of registered voters--including 57% of conservative Republicans--expressed support for its policy goals after they were described. But by April 2019, support among conservative Republicans declined to 32%. Frequent Fox News viewers had become both more aware of and less supportive of the concept than other Republicans.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Pew Research: Rising share of Americans think climate change should be top priority

Yale: How political polarization increased on the Green New Deal

Forbes: Growing division on climate change among Democrats and Republicans

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.