New data on inflation, psychedelics, and climate change
Hello from SurveyMonkey!
Welcome to the latest installment of our research newsletter. This week’s data guide is Austin Pettis, an Associate Research Scientist on our Research team. He’ll share exclusive data on perceptions around climate change… But first, we wanted to share some recent data highlights:
Our latest MRx study, published last Friday, surveyed nearly 4,000 people across the U.S. to learn about their sentiments towards psychedelics, which are increasingly being used for various health care purposes. Nearly 2 in 3 (63%) adults in the U.S. support the legalization of psychedelics—especially for medicinal use—with the highest support coming from younger generations and those experiencing mental health conditions. People with poorer self-ratings of mental health and greater dissatisfaction with healthcare in general are more enthusiastic about using psychedelics to treat mental health conditions. Check out the full results.
On Monday, CNBC released the Q1 findings from our CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Confidence Index, which polls more than 2,000 small business owners every quarter to understand the challenges and opportunities they face. The confidence index score continues to hover around all-time lows, holding at 44 out of 100, unchanged from Q4 2021 and nearly identical to the score of 43 from a year ago. But, the real headline is that an increasing number of small business owners are raising their prices to offset increases in the costs of supplies, which means inflation has really arrived on Main Street. Read the coverage in CNBC.
Americans view climate change as a serious problem
The majority (72%) of adults in the U.S. see climate change as a serious problem according to a new SurveyMonkey poll, shared exclusively with our newsletter readers.
Climate change is seen as more of a problem by 18-34 year olds (80%) compared with 64% of 35-64 year olds and 68% of those 65 and older
More women than men (52% vs. 41%) consider climate change to be a “very serious” problem
Almost all (95%) of Democrats and Democratic leaners see climate change as a problem compared with only 46% of Republicans and GOP leaners and 81% of independents. Only 16% of Republicans see climate change as a very serious problem compared to fully 77% of Democrats, and 48% of independents.
Extreme weather events seen across the United States
Half of U.S. adults (51%) say they have experienced extreme weather in the past 12 months in the area where they live. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents in the West South Central division (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) say they have experienced extreme weather events this past year, the most of any Census division. When thinking about the frequency of extreme weather events, half (50%) of those in the Pacific division (Alaska, California, Oregon, Hawaii) say they are experiencing these events more often, the most of any division.
When thinking about the past few years, 44% of U.S. adults say that extreme weather events have been occurring more often, 15% say they have been occurring less often, and 39% say they have been staying the same. Among those experiencing extreme weather more often, 77% have had an extreme weather event occur in the past year in their community, and 75% view climate change as a very serious problem. Among those that view climate change as a very serious problem, 71% say they have experienced extreme weather more often, compared to only 5%of those who view climate change as not serious at all.
Humans’ impact on climate change
More than half (56%) of people in the U.S. see human activity as the primary cause of climate change. About a third (35%) say climate change is primarily due to natural changes in the environment, and 7% do not believe climate change exists. A majority (58%) think the U.S. should do more to address climate change while 19% think the U.S. is doing too much and 20% think that the U.S is doing just enough.
However, Americans are trying to do their own part to combat climate change: 85% of adults in the U.S. are taking at least one action against climate change in their community, with recycling (64%) and using reusable bags/containers (52%) being the top two. Though the younger generations see climate change as more of a problem, they are also the least likely to be recycling. The youngest age group, 18-34 year olds recycle the least amount (59%) when compared to 35-64 year olds (63%) and those over 65 (71%).
- Austin Pettis
About Austin: Austin is an Associate Research Scientist at SurveyMonkey, where he regularly collaborates with colleagues on media partner and internal research studies. Austin holds a bachelor’s degree in geography and english from Portland State University. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon where he enjoys spending time with his dogs and family, going to the Oregon coast, and lap swimming.
That’s it from us this week! Thanks for reading.