Reports of warmer weather, rising sea levels, and the increase of extreme natural events have all been indicators of global climate change. However, many people continue to question whether there is enough evidence to support the claim that climate change exists. Regardless of people’s view on climate change, the bigger question is how to combat it. If climate change does really exist, are we prepared to change our lives to stop it? In this month’s panel, we ask Oregonians about their perceptions and views of climate change and how Oregon should respond.
These findings come from a DHM Research (DHM) and Oregon Values and Beliefs Center (OVBC) online survey conducted from October 1 to October 6, 2020 about a variety of issues including COVID-19, climate change, homelessness, and public finance and taxation. Quality control measures were taken including pretesting the questionnaire and randomizing questions to reduce order bias. Demographic quotas and statistical weighting were also used to ensure a representative sample of 600 Oregonians ages 18+. The margin of error for each question falls between +/-2.4% and +/-4.0% at the 95% confidence level, depending on how the response category percentages split for any given question.
Three in four Oregonians believe that there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer.
A majority of Oregonians (77%) believe that the average temperatures on Earth have been rising because of human activity (59%) or because of natural patterns in earth’s environment (18%). However, nearly one in five Oregonians (17%) do not believe that there is solid evidence because we don’t know enough yet (12%) or it just isn’t happening (5%).
There has been a slight shift in Oregonians’ belief on climate change overtime. The proportion of Oregonians who believe that climate change isn’t happening has decreased from 12% in 2018 to 5% in 2020. The proportion of Oregonians who believe that average temperatures on Earth are getting warmer because of human activity has slightly increased since 2018 (52%), with nearly six in ten (59%) Oregonians sharing this belief in 2020.
These beliefs are starkly different by area of the state, political party, and educational attainment.
Residents in the Tri-county area (83%) are more likely to agree that there is solid evidence to support warmer temperatures compared to residents in the Willamette Valley (74%) and the rest of the state (69%).
Members of the Democratic (97%) party are also more likely to hold this belief compared to Republicans (52%) and Independents/Others (71%). Oregonians with a college degree (88%) are also more likely to hold this belief compared to Oregonians with some college education (70%) and people with a high school diploma or less (75%).
A majority of Oregonians are concerned that global climate change will harm them personally at some point in their lifetime.
Six out of ten Oregonians (64%) are very (37%) or somewhat (26%) concerned that global climate change will personally harm them at some point in their life. Three out of ten (34%) Oregonians are not too (17%) or not at all (17%) concerned that global climate change will personally harm them.
The level of concern among Oregonians has increased from 56% since we last asked this same question in 2019. Level of concern varies by area of state, age, education, and political party.
Residents in the Tri-county area are more concerned (72%) about global climate change than residents in the Willamette Valley (62%) and the rest of the state (53%). Oregonians between ages 18-29 (77%) are also more concerned when compared to older Oregonians (53%-64%). College graduates (75%) are more concerned about personally being harmed from climate change than Oregonians with some college education (56%) and people with a high school diploma or less (64%). The greatest contrast in the level of concern is between political parties.
A majority of Democrats (88%) and members of the Independent/Other (63%) parties are more likely to be concerned that global climate change will personally affect them at some point in their lifetime compared to a majority of Republicans (73%) who are not concerned about climate change.
A majority of Oregonians agree the state should take additional steps to combat climate change but less than half of the state is prepared to pay higher taxes for goods and services to fund it.
Six out of ten Oregonians (62%) agree that Oregon should take additional steps to help combat climate change while three out of ten do not think we should take additional steps (26%) or are unsure (12%). However, Oregonians are split when it comes to being prepared to pay higher taxes to combat climate change (46%) or not (40%).
The level of agreement varies by area of the state, political party, and educational attainment.
A majority of Oregonians (56%-67%) across the state believe that we should take additional steps to combat climate change. However, residents in the Tri-county area (59%) are more prepared to pay additional taxes for goods and services while residents in the Willamette Valley (48%) and the rest of the state (49%) are not.
Nearly all of Oregon’s Democrats (88%) and a majority Independents/Others (60%) believe that we should take additional steps to combat climate change while a majority of Republicans (61%) believe that we should not. A majority of Democrats (73%) are also prepared to pay higher taxes for goods and services compared to Republicans (12%) and Independents/Others (42%).
More than half of Oregonians (53%-71%) believe that we should take additional steps to combat climate change, regardless of their level of educational attainment. However, college graduates (69%) are more prepared to pay higher taxes for goods and services compared to Oregonians who have some college education (41%) and people with a high school diploma or less (34%).
The research was completed as a community service by DHM Research in partnership with the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center. Both organizations are independent and non-partisan. DHM Research is a Certified B Corporation (www.dhmresearch.com) and OVBC is an Oregon charitable nonprofit corporation (www.oregonvbc.org).