It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when climate change was a bipartisan issue. George H. W. Bush’s administration was eager to work with Democrats on energy policy. But in the mid-1990s, the Republican Party, abetted by oil, gas, and coal companies, began its downward spiral into climate denial. That brings us to today, when the gap between Republicans and Democrats on climate change appears to be growing ever wider, even as intensifying hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, and floods leave scars across the country.

Gallup’s annual survey of American attitudes about global warming, published last week, shows that Democrats are increasingly in agreement with the scientific consensus. A whopping 82 percent of Democrats said they believe that the effects of global warming have already begun. Meanwhile, only 29 percent of Republicans did, a record low. That’s a gap of 53 points; for comparison, in 2001, the gap was a mere 13 points.

Still, a closer look at the Gallup poll reveals a silver lining. Data provided to Grist by Gallup, which combined Republicans and people who lean Republican for a bigger sample, shows that Republicans ages 18 to 29 have a more moderate view of climate change and its effects than their elders. Nearly two-thirds of them believe humans are the main cause of global warming, compared to just a third of Republican baby boomers.

This trend has been supported by previous polling. “When you look below the hood, young and old Democrats are pretty much the same. There’s not a generational difference among Democrats,” Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, told Grist. “But among Republicans, we see a significant difference. Young Republicans are much more engaged, much more concerned about this issue than their parents and their grandparents.”

Read the full article about the climate change belief gap between democrats and republicans by Zoya Teirstein at Grist.