Heat Wave Survey of Canadians and Americans

August 7, 2023

Leger recently surveyed Canadians and Americans about how the recent heat wave affected them and their families, how prepared they are for heat waves in the future, and more.

SOME OF THE KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR HEAT WAVE SURVEY INCLUDE… 

EFFECTS OF THE RECENT HEAT WAVE

  • 35% of Canadians and Americans say the recent heat wave had a negative effect on them and their family (with 30% and 28% respectively saying the impact was somewhat negative).

FUTURE HEAT WAVES: PREPAREDNESS AND CONCERNS

  • 76% of Canadians and 79% of Americans say they are prepared to handle the impacts of future heat waves.
  • 65% of Canadians and 68% of Americans are concerned they will experience increasingly hot summers and more heat waves where they live in the future.

DEALING WITH HOT WEATHER

  • The top actions that Canadians and Americans have taken this summer to deal with the heat are buying a fan (23% and 24% respectively), installing air conditioning (19% each), and/or checking in on a loved one or neighbour who is vulnerable to the heat (15% and 16% respectively).
  • 48% of Canadians and 50% of Americans say they have not taken any of the indicated actions to deal with the heat.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY 

  • A web survey was conducted among 1,517 Canadians and 1,556 Americans 18 years of age or older. Respondents were randomly recruited using Leger’s LEO online panel. 
  • The data was collected from July 21 to 24, 2023. 
  • Technically, a margin of error should not be associated with a non-probability sample (Web panel in this case). For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size would yield a margin of error no greater than ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20 for the Canadian sample and ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20 for the American sample. 
  • The results were weighted according to age, gender, mother tongue, region, education and presence of children in the household in order to ensure a representative sample of the Canadian population and according to age, gender, region, education, ethnicity and number of people in the household in order to ensure a representative sample of the American population.

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