A new poll finds that 90 percent of U.S. adults say extreme heat has affected their lives in some way, up from 83 percent two years ago. At the same time, the percentage of Americans who believe climate change is happening dropped from 73 percent in September 2025 to 66 percent in late July 2026. AP-NORC

The survey of 1,165 Americans, conducted in late July, reveals a puzzle. More people are dealing with extreme heat in their daily lives, but fewer people accept the idea that climate change is the cause. Al Jazeera

Thirty percent of respondents said extreme heat had a big impact on their outdoor activities, up from 21 percent in July 2024. The share reporting a big effect on vacation and travel plans rose from 8 percent to 15 percent over the same period. When smaller impacts are included, about four in ten Americans say extreme heat has affected their travel or vacation plans. Chicago Tribune

The financial toll is even clearer. Eighty-one percent of Americans said their electricity bills had been affected by extreme heat over the past year, up sharply from 69 percent in July 2024. In other words, climate stress is showing up not in future projections but in the bills people pay each month. Al Jazeera

Different parts of the country are feeling it differently. In the U.S. West, 35 percent of respondents said heat had a major impact on outdoor activities, above the national average of 30 percent. Climatologists at Virginia Tech University estimated that as of May, about 60 percent of the country was in drought, with 20 percent in extreme drought. Al Jazeera

Politics plays a role too. Democratic respondents were more likely than Republicans to say extreme heat had affected their plans. The poll cannot tell whether this gap is because Democrats actually experience more heat, because they perceive it differently, or because people tend to answer climate-related questions in line with their political identity. What it does show is that even the experience of heat is shaped by politics, which makes it harder to pass climate policy that needs broad public agreement.

Over roughly ten months, belief that climate change is happening fell by seven percentage points. Seventeen percent of Americans now say they are unsure, and 15 percent say it is not happening at all. This drop comes even as the physical signs of warming, like drought and energy demand, have gotten worse, not better.

The broader picture is one of increasing pressure on people's lives and wallets meeting a public that is growing less sure about why it is happening. When 81 percent of households say heat has raised their electricity bills and nearly a third say it has seriously disrupted their daily activities, the practical need for things like stronger power grids, cooling centers, and heat-resistant buildings is getting stronger.

But the seven-point drop in climate belief at the same time suggests that the political support needed to fund those fixes may be shrinking, not growing. For government officials, insurance companies, utility regulators, and public health experts, the poll points to a landscape where the practical reasons to act and the political reasons to act are moving in opposite directions. Strategies that focus on the real experience of heat, rather than on climate arguments, may build a more lasting coalition. That, however, is an inference, not something the poll itself found.

What the survey shows is simple. More Americans are feeling the heat, paying for it, and changing their routines because of it. Fewer are concluding that climate change is the reason. Both trends have grown stronger over the past two years. How institutions deal with that gap will shape the politics of climate policy for years to come.