2 in 3 say not enough is being done to fight climate change in US: survey

About 62 percent of Americans say the U.S. government is not doing enough to fight climate change, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.

The poll shows that 79 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of independents and 39 percent of Republicans agree with the statement that too little is being done to combat climate change.

Just 19 percent of Americans say the federal government is doing too much to fight climate change, mostly driven by 43 percent of Republicans who agreed with that statement.

President Biden signed major legislation to fight climate change over the summer as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes around $375 billion to invest in clean energy throughout the country.

But 61 percent of U.S. adults have heard nothing or know just a little about the law, according to the AP-NORC poll. And just 33 percent agree it will help fight climate change.

At the same time, about 6 in 10 Americans say the federal government should reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that companies are allowed to emit.

About 50 percent of U.S. adults say the government should provide tax credits for the purchase of electric vehicles, a major piece of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Under the Paris climate accord, world leaders are pushing to keep average global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target set to prevent the worst effects of climate change from impacting society. But the world is already experiencing extreme temperatures and more frequent and ferocious hurricanes as a result of global warming.

The AP-NORC poll was conducted Sept. 9 to Sept. 12 among 1,054 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.