Pope Francis Has Swayed U.S. Public Opinion on Global Warming

A sizable percentage of Americans, and an even larger number of U.S. Catholics, say that Pope Francis’s teachings on climate change have influenced their views on the issue. A survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication showed that 17 percent of Americans and 35 percent of Catholics say that their views on global warming have been swayed by the Pope’s messages of concern about climate change, delivered in an encyclical and in a September visit to the U.S. The researchers polled a sampling of Americans months before the pope’s encyclical and after. Those surveys showed the percentage of Americans worried about global warming rose from 51 percent in March to 59 percent in October, and that concern among U.S. Catholics grew from 53 percent to 64 percent in that period. The percentage of those who believe climate change will harm people here and abroad also grew modestly, as did the number of people who consider climate change a moral and social fairness issue.