‘They Don’t Care!’ CNN Data Guru On Voters’ Shifting Attitudes On Climate Change Despite Scorching Hot Summer

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten joined anchor John Berman on Wednesday to discuss the politics of global warming, coming off of news that July was the hottest month ever recorded in the U.S.

“All right, we learned that July 2026 was the hottest month on record in the United States. Very hot, causing a whole lot of problems. So the question is, will that become a political issue? How much do people care about that? How much do people care about climate change? Is it something they will vote on? CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten is here. Wow, it was hot. So is that going to drive decisions from voters?” Berman asked.

“You know, I was schvitzing a lot in the month of July, although granted, you know, I schvitz a lot all the time. But the bottom line when it comes to voters is, simply put, they don’t care. They don’t care,” Enten replied, adding:

I mean, just look at these numbers. Okay, top issue in a midterm vote — you can list up to three issues. The economy, not surprisingly, comes in at number one at 54%. Immigration, 28%. Look at climate change — it’s tied for 14th, tied for 14th, all the way down here at 3%. Johnny, I’m not the greatest mathematician in the world, but I sure as heck know that 54% is a whole heck of a lot higher than 3%. So despite the climate being so warm in the month of July, the hottest month on record here in the United States of America, the voters, simply put, do not say that climate change is going to be an issue on which they vote in the midterm election.

“And how much people are concerned has been changing over time,” Berman noted.

“Yeah, I mean, this is, I think, the other thing, which is, you know, how much concern is there when it comes to over time?” Enten replied, diving into the numbers:

And you can see this 3% here, and you can see in these slides right here: “Say climate change is a very big problem.” In 2016, it was 40%. It was 40%. Look where we are in 2026 — it’s 39%, it’s 39%. Now, Johnny B, you’re talking about change. Where the change we have seen is partisanship, right?

And what we can see is Republicans, more so than anybody else, have been shifting away from the idea that climate change is a top issue for them. Take a look at this — the least important issue for Republicans, it’s just at 14% in terms of saying that climate change is a very big problem. So we’re seeing a large partisan split, but when it comes together, Democrats are going in one direction, Republicans are going in another direction. But when you put those two together, the bottom line is we’re only talking about two in five Americans, both now and 10 years ago, saying that climate change is a very big problem.

“This is an all-New-York-accent hit, I’m noticing this time. You’re leaning into that,” Berman quipped as Enten added, “I’m leaning into it, because it was hot in July in New York.”

“So to what extent do people blame human activity for this?” Berman followed up.

“So you see this 40%, you see this 39% — now I really am leaning into the New York accent. Say it’s humans causing the earth to warm — look at this. In 2016, it was 45%. Now it’s 48%. Again, no real shift that’s going on here, as opposed to saying there’s no warming or it’s natural,” Enten replied.

“And in terms of what the prediction markets are saying about how hot it will be this year?” Berman asked.

“It’s gonna be hot, Johnny B. Some like it hot. Look at this: okay, chance that 2026 will be the world’s hottest year — look at that. On July 12th, about a month ago, it was 24%. Now, 65% on Kalshi Prediction Markets. So, quite hot indeed, but Americans, simply put they don’t care about climate change,” Enten responded.

Watch above via CNN.

Jason Cohen contributed to this report.

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