The data shows where climate sceptics and believers live in the United States — so which direction is your state trending?

Recent survey-based and modelling work reveals striking geographic patterns in how Americans view climate change. According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication’s interactive “Climate Opinion Maps”, one can drill down to state‐ and county-level estimates of beliefs such as “global warming is happening”, “caused mostly by humans”, and “already hurting people in the U.S.”. (climatecommunication.yale.edu) Those maps show that coastal states and parts of the West tend to lead on belief and concern, while some inland and southern states lag. A separate study found that about 14.8 % of Americans doubt climate change altogether, and those clusters are disproportionately in the central and southern U.S. (Nature)

What does this mean for how states are trending? Firstly, regions that are more exposed to visible climate impacts (for example sea-level rise, wildfires) often show higher levels of belief and concern. Yet paradoxically, some of the same areas with large sceptic populations face the greatest projected economic harm from climate change. For instance, an analysis by the Brookings Institution found that places where “climate change sceptics live” often also are among the hardest hit in future climate-damage forecasts. (CBS News)

Second, political, cultural and demographic factors also shape these beliefs. The earlier research by Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) demonstrated three groups—Believers, Sympathizers and Skeptics—and found sharp partisan and religious divides in their distribution across the U.S. (PRRI)

So, for your state: Is it edging toward higher belief and concern (in line with coastal + urban states) or holding steady in more sceptic-leaning territory? The maps from Yale let you check your state’s current level and see whether the trend is shifting. It’s a story not just of geography but of politics, economics and environment all meeting.