Turns out Americans really don’t care about climate change after all

CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said on Thursday that Americans are not too concerned about climate change or about being a victim of a natural disaster.

Polling from Gallup found that 40% of Americans are “greatly worried about climate change” currently, which has decreased by six percentage points from 2020. These new numbers emerged as many liberals, including Democrat members of Congress, have attempted to blame climate change and President Donald Trump for the devastating flood in Central Texas.

“Are Americans concerned of climate change, and the answer is, Americans aren’t afraid of climate change,” Enten said. “Climate activists have not successfully made the case to the American people. I want you to take a look here. ‘Greatly worried about climate change.’ We have data going all the way back since 1989, and look at it then, it was 39%. In 2000, it was 40%. 2020, 46%. In 2025, 40%, which is the exact same percentage as in 2000, despite all of these horrible weather events. The percentage of Americans that are greatly worried about climate change has stayed pretty gosh darned consistent.”

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The percentage of Americans who “often [or] sometimes worry” about being the victim of a natural disaster has decreased from 38% to 32% since 2006, Enten said. A minority of Americans of each political party, including only 27% of Democrats, believe that climate change will impact their home areas.

“Look at this, all adults, it’s just 17%. It’s just 17%. The GOP is 6%, Independents is 16%, even Democrats here, it’s just 27% of Democrats who say that climate change will make it harder to stay in our area,” Enten continued. “And I think this is what’s so important. This is across the aisle in terms of the percentage of who will say it’ll be harder to stay in our area. And it is the exact same thing that we see here, ‘when you’ll be a natural disaster victim.’ Under 50% of Democrats, Republicans and Independents believe that in fact, they could be, or at least worry about the chances that they’ll be a natural disaster victim.”

Several prominent figures, such as Bill Nye, have pointed fingers at climate change and the use of fossil fuels. CNN’s Dana Bash and Democrat Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro suggested that climate change is a factor in the flood during a Sunday segment of “State of the Union.”

The flood in Texas has killed over 120 victims as of Thursday, including 27 campers at the all-girls Christian camp, Camp Mystic. At least 150 individuals remain missing in Kerr County.

Floods have occurred since the beginning of Earth’s history, and some of the worst floods in the U.S. happened over a century ago. One disaster in Pennsylvania  May 31, 1889, unleashed 16 million tons of water and killed over 2,200 people, while another flood on the Mississippi River in 1927 killed at least 250 people, according to History.com.

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