Research by the CSIRO has found more than three quarters of Australians agree climate change is happening, with divisions emerging along political lines.

The survey of almost 18,000 people over five years showed 78 per cent of Australians believed in climate change.

Dr Zoe Leviston from the CSIRO said there appeared to be very few differences when demographics were taken into account.

"It was quite interesting to see that things like income, age, gender, really didn't have a noticeable impact both on what people thought about climate change and what they were doing in response to climate change," she said.

The figures for 2014 were similar to results published in 2010, with people estimating that human activity accounted for 62 per cent of changes to the climate.

Digging further into the research showed a more complex situation emerging.

Nearly half of those who were repeatedly surveyed over the course of the study kept changing their minds.

Conservatives more likely to believe in natural climate change

The CSIRO said there were divisions, as well as some confusion, about the causes behind climate change.

When asked on what best described their thoughts, 45.9 per cent of people said they believed in climate change and that humans were largely causing it, while 38.6 per cent believed in climate change, but that it was a natural fluctuation in the Earth's temperature.

In two separate questions, the number of people who did not believe climate change was happening changed from 7.9 per cent to 22 per cent.

Dr Leviston said a possible explanation for this discrepancy was that people's basic opinion may not be set in stone, but instead represented a "position statement", which indicated how serious they considered the issue to be.

The research suggested while opinions on climate change were related to voting behaviour, much of this could be explained by the environmental world view held by individuals.

Fifty-nine per cent of Labor voters believed climate change was caused by humans, compared to 28 per cent of Liberal supporters.

Twenty-two per cent of Nationals voters agreed, compared to 76 per cent of those who support the Greens.

'Common sense' behind climate change view

Dr Leviston stressed opinions on climate change were more closely related to deep-seated world views rather than political allegiances.

"Those connections or those relationships we see are explained by quite deep fundamental orientations towards the environment and humans in general," she said.

"I think it's an over simplification to say it's driven by political leanings.

"It suggests that people's attitudes towards climate change are more opinions that are responsive to changes in the social environment and possibly the physical environment, and that fluctuation reflects quite subtle changes."

Those who believed in human-induced climate change were more likely to trust scientific research, while those who thought climate change was not happening said their views were based more on common sense.

While most people expected temperatures to rise in their region, the survey suggested respondents believed they would be less harmed than others further away.

"It's an example of optimism bias, that idea that people think themselves to be inured somehow against a threat that they know will adversely impact the wider community," Dr Leviston said.

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