Our surveys have repeatedly shown that most Americans are interested in the issue of global warming and consider it personally important. But we've also found that for most Americans, climate change is not a common topic of conversation or something they hear about much in their daily lives.

In our most recent national survey, we found that more than half of those who are interested in global warming or think the issue is important "rarely" or "never" talk about it with family and friends (57% and 54% respectively).


 

Our findings suggest that there is a climate change "spiral of silence," in which even people who care about the issue, shy away from discussing it because they so infrequently hear other people talking about it - reinforcing the spiral.  We've synthesized these findings in our latest Climate Note - read it here.

What do you think? Do you think there a spiral of silence about climate change in America? Do you find yourself or others you know hesitant to talk about it? If so, why?

Please share your answers via Twitter to @YaleClimateComm and @Mason4C, using the hashtag #climatesilence, or on our Facebook pages: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. Let's talk about it!



 Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia 22032

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