#Hispanic Catholics, unaffiliated most likely religious groups to acknowledge human-caused climate change

Religiously unaffiliated Americans and Hispanic Catholics are the most likely religious groups to acknowledge climate change is caused by human activity, with Latter-day Saints and white evangelical Protestants the only groups where a majority does not, according to a survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

The survey indicated that among both unaffiliated Americans and Hispanic Catholics, 76 percent acknowledge human-caused climate change, followed by religious Americans who are neither Christian nor Jewish, at 70 percent. Sixty-seven percent of American Jews acknowledge it, followed by Hispanic Protestants at 61 percent, 59 percent of Black Protestants and 56 percent of white Catholics.

Pollsters also found that 54 percent of white mainline Protestants said the same, followed by 48 percent of Latter-day Saints and 31 percent of white evangelical Protestants. Nineteen percent of white evangelical Protestants said there was no evidence the climate is changing at all. 

Meanwhile, the survey found that 61 percent of Americans overall believe human behavior is causing climate change. Eighty-three percent of Democrats said the same, compared to 64 percent of independents and 28 percent of Republicans. GOP candidates for president in 2024 have minimized or outright denied the existence of climate change, with the frontrunner, former president Donald Trump, repeatedly falsely claiming it’s a “hoax.”

Religious leaders of various faiths have called the climate crisis a moral responsibility, from Pope Francis to the National Association of Evangelicals, but this has not always translated to the sentiment being widely adopted within those faiths.

The survey found broad support for the idea of a religious obligation to be good stewards of the planet, even among those groups less likely to acknowledge climate change. Among both Latter-day Saints and white evangelical Protestants, the least likely groups to acknowledge human-caused climate change, more than 80 percent said it’s extremely or very important to them to act as stewards of the earth. The same held true for 80 percent of Black Protestants, 78 percent of Hispanic Catholics, 76 percent of Hispanic Protestants, 73 percent of other non-white Protestants, 63 percent of white mainline Protestants and 56 percent of white Catholics.

The survey comes after several months smashed their own heat records, and data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service indicates that 2023 is on track to be the hottest year ever recorded.  

Pollsters surveyed 5,192 American adults from Ipsos’ Knowledge Panel as well as another 348 recruits, from June 8 to June 28. The survey has a 1.62 percent margin of error.