Climate Change Concern No Longer Popular, Plummets in Big Cities: Poll
A recent poll by the american Communities Project (ACP) and Ipsos, reported by the Associated Press, reveals that Americans living in major urban areas no longer see climate change as a top concern. While climate change ranked as the fifth most crucial policy issue in 2023, it has dropped to ninth place in 2025. Instead, inflation and affordability, particularly regarding energy and housing costs, have become the foremost worries for city residents. Experts quoted in the report argue that concerns about climate change have waned because many view climate policies as efforts to exert centralized control rather than genuinely address environmental issues. Affordability is emerging as a key political issue, influencing recent gubernatorial elections and expected to play a important role in upcoming midterms. The poll surveyed nearly 5,500 adults and highlights shifting priorities among urban populations.
Americans in big cities do not see climate change as a top issue anymore, according to the Associated Press and a new American Communities Project (ACP)/Ipsos poll.
The poll says that although Americans in major urban areas listed climate change as the fifth-highest policy issue in 2023, it has fallen to ninth place in 2025 among the available choices, the AP — which collaborated with the pollsters on reporting the findings — noted Monday. Inflation is the top issue in the minds of Americans in 2025, according to the poll and AP.
“Urban Americans are finally waking up to the reality that the climate alarmists’ agenda was never about the environment, it was about centralized control over how we live, work, and power our homes. This new poll shows that even big-city residents, who have been bombarded with climate fear messaging for years, are now more worried about paying their bills than appeasing activists,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Skyrocketing energy and housing costs are exposing the painful truth that the so-called transition only makes life harder and less affordable. When the people who were once the strongest audience for climate alarmism start tuning it out, the political façade begins to collapse.”
The ACP defines “Big Cities” as the 48 counties that have the greatest population density.
The study drew data from almost 5,500 American adults over age 18 from Aug. 18 to Sept. 4 through phone interviews and online polls, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points, according to the AP. The 2023 data came from a separate ACP survey of just over 5,000 adults conducted in June and July 2023, the AP said.
Notably, affordability has emerged as a major policy issue, proving to be a winning ticket for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia. Affordability is set to be a central theme as the nation prepares for the midterm elections.
“City dwellers — and everyone else — have more pressing concerns than vague notions of climate change,” James Taylor, president of the Heartland Institute, told the DCNF. “Climate change is to adults what the Boogeyman is to children; a mythical terror that we’re warned is always ready to get us, but each passing year reveals to be more fiction than fact.”
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