The Six Americas over 10 years
As per the YPCCC, within the United States, there are six Americas regarding their belief in global warming and climate change, including: 

In 2011, SASSY results were:

1) 18% alarmed, 

2) 33% concerned, 

3) 19% cautious, 

4) 12% disengaged, 

5) 11% doubtful, and 

6) 7% dismissive.  

 

In 2021, however, the SASSY results have adjusted toward the extremes as less people are disengaged.  In comparison, the disengaged has lowered from 12% to 7%, whereas there are increases in the alarmed (up 13%) and dismissive (up 3%).  

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1) 31% alarmed, 

2) 26% concerned, 

3) 16% cautious, 

4) 7% disengaged, 

5) 10% doubtful, and 

6) 10% dismissive.  

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Analysis of the “Alarmed"

It may be surprising that a survey participant that was grouped in the “alarmed” category may not have chosen the most extreme choice for each question.  For example, in question #3, if someone chooses that they are “only a little” concerned that global warming will affect them personally, they will have chosen the middle choice out of 6 choices.  

 

Analysis of the “Concerned”

Back in 2011, the concerned population was the largest percentage and felt that climate change would harm people in the US within 10 to 25 years.  The concerned found global warming/climate change to be a somewhat/very important, were somewhat worried, put some thought into it, and felt fairly well informed.  79% of the concerned felt that climate change was caused by human activity, versus 8% of doubtful and only 1% of the dismissive, who were not at all worried and felt no personal or future threat.  64% of the concerned agreed with a scientific consensus, versus 11% of doubtful and only 8% of the dismissive.  

 

Evaluation of Thresholds Between the SASSY Groups
In 2021, the top three categories comprise 73% of the public: 1) alarmed (31%), 2) concerned (26%), and 3) cautious (16%).  

• The Alarmed are known to strongly support climate policies.

• The Concerned can be known to typically believe that climate change is mainly harmful to other nations and future nations, therefore unlikely to engage in activism.

• The Cautious can be known as “fence-sitters” that considers global warming a distant threat, with no strong opinions on climate actions.

 

In an analysis of the survey, the following variations to answers will separate a person into the top 3 categories.   

 

Question #1: How important is the issue of global warming to you personally?
 

Question #2: How worried are you about global warming?
 

Question #3: How much do you think global warming will harm you personally?
 

Question #4: How much do you think global warming will harm future generations of people?

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Answer Variations

1. Very, 2) Very, 3) only a little, 4) Very = Alarmed

2. Very, 2) Somewhat, 3) only a little, 4) moderate = Concerned

3. Somewhat, 2) Somewhat, 3) only a little, 4) only a little = Cautious

 

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References: 

Yale University (2009). Global Warming’s Six Americas 2009: An Audience Segmentation Analysis. Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.Retrieved from https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2009/05/pdf/6americas.pdf.  
 

Yale University (2011). Yale Project on Climate Change. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I5u9rfUSLA.
 

Yale University (2020). Six Americas Super Short Survey (SASSY!). Retrieved from https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/sassy/
 

Yale University (2020). Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2020. Retrieved from https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us/