More than two-thirds of Floridians are moderately or extremely concerned about hurricanes increasing in strength and frequency, according to a new Florida Atlantic University survey.

The Invading Sea’s Florida Climate Survey also found that most Floridians — 54 percent — are worried about being able to afford and maintain homeowners’ insurance due to climate change. According to a 2023 report by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, the average premiums for Florida homeowners rose nearly 60 percent between 2015 and 2023, the largest increase in any state.

“Floridians are connecting the dots between climate change and the damaging hurricanes and soaring insurance premiums that they’ve experienced in recent years,” said Colin Polsky, associate vice president of Broward campuses for FAU and a professor of geosciences in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science.

The survey is the 12th conducted by the FAU Center for Environmental Studies on Floridians’ opinions about climate resilience issues since October 2019. It takes place every spring and fall. The survey was renamed in 2024 after The Invading Sea, a website managed by the center that publishes news and commentary about climate-related topics.

The most recent survey, which was conducted from March 5 to 7 in English and Spanish, consisted of a sampling of 1,400 Floridians, ages 18 and older. It found that 38 percent of Floridians were “extremely concerned” about hurricanes becoming stronger and/or more frequent, the highest percentage reporting the top level of concern since the survey started. Another 29 percent were moderately concerned, 23 percent were slightly concerned and 10 percent weren’t concerned at all. The findings come in the wake of the destructive 2024 hurricane season, fueled by record-high ocean temperatures, when Florida was struck by Category 4 Hurricane Helene and Category 5 Hurricane Milton.

The survey found that nearly two-thirds of Floridians (65 percent) believe that the state and federal governments should be doing more to address the impacts of climate change.

Broken down by political party, 83 percent of Democrats support more government climate action as do more than half of Republicans and more than 60 percent of independents. “This majority support explains why despite continued anti-climate policy rhetoric from the Florida executive and legislative branches, we still see state action on climate adaptation,” Polsky said. Most Floridians also support expanding the use of renewable energy.

The survey found that 72 percent of Floridians agree that the state should diversify its energy generation to include more electricity produced from renewable sources. Nearly two-thirds of Floridians support teaching climate science in K-12 schools, according to the survey. And 52 percent of respondents were more likely to support candidates who have a political record reducing the impacts of climate change. The latter finding showed a large gap between political parties: Democrats (70 percent) were far more likely than independents (48 percent) and Republicans (39 percent) to express support for candidates who advance climate policy.

“This is now the second survey that we’ve asked Floridians whether they consider climate change when voting,” Polsky said. “Both surveys found that a majority of Floridians say they’re more likely to back candidates who address climate change, but we haven’t seen this translate at the ballot box.”

About 88 percent of all Floridians believe climate change is happening, the survey found. The finding is consistent with the results of all 11 previous surveys and higher than the 73 percent of Americans nationally who reported such an opinion in the latest edition of Yale polling on climate views across the country. For more information, survey results and full cross-tabulations, visit ces.fau.edu/ces-bepi/ or contact Colin Polsky, Ph.d., at cpolsky@fau.edu.