Just over half of voters say that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll. The same number of voters had the same response more than 15 years ago, so Essential Media’s executive director, Peter Lewis, and political reporter Josh Butler unpack the difference between the science and politics of climate action in Australia. They also explore why self-aware AI – rather than the climate crisis – ranked as our greatest existential threat, and how the overwhelming support for gambling reform exposes the gap between Albanese’s current commitments and the public mood for change