Environmental Polling Roundup – April 26, 2024
HEADLINES
CBS News + YouGov – Americans have heard little about the Biden administration’s climate efforts, but the administration’s climate and environmental policies are popular when people learn about them [Biden administration climate action article, Climate and economy article]
Ipsos – Steady majorities of Americans say that the government should do more to address global warming and will be failing the American people if it doesn’t take action; however, Americans have mixed attitudes about the economics of climate action [Release with link to full Earth Day poll report]
Gallup – Pollution of drinking water remains Americans’ top environmental concern, and few ever say that the government is doing “too much” to protect the environment [Article]
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Clean drinking water continues to resonate more than any other environmental priority. Gallup finds that Americans have stronger concerns about the pollution of drinking water than any other environmental issue, which is consistent with previous polling by Gallup and others. Policies to protect clean drinking water are accordingly very well-received, and CBS News and YouGov find that reducing toxic chemicals in drinking water is President Biden’s most popular environmental accomplishment.
- Democrats and Republicans believe very different narratives about climate change and the economy. CBS News and YouGov find that Americans have mixed attitudes about the economic impacts of climate action, with Democrats tending to believe that efforts to reduce climate change will help the economy while Republicans tend to believe that such efforts will hurt the economy. Demonstrating the economic benefits of climate action is critically important for winning over conservative audiences, as polling shows that Republicans remain pessimistic about the impacts of climate action on the economy and cost of living even as they acknowledge other benefits such as cleaner air and improved public health. Additionally, Ipsos finds that Americans are more likely to agree with an economic rationale for postponing climate action than with other common opposition arguments.
GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT
- [Climate Attitudes] 62% of Americans say that they worry at least “a fair amount” about climate change, including 42% who worry “a great deal” about it [Gallup]
- [Climate Attitudes] 61% of Americans recognize that pollution from human activities is the primary cause of increases in the Earth’s temperature over the past century [Gallup]
- [Climate Attitudes] 59% of Americans recognize that the effects of global warming have already begun [Gallup]
- [Climate Action] 70% of Americans support the U.S. taking steps to try to to slow or stop the rate of climate change [CBS News + YouGov]
- [Climate Action] 56% of Americans agree that the U.S. should do more in the fight against climate change [Ipsos]
- [Climate Action] 54% of Americans agree that the U.S. government will be failing its people if it does not act now to combat climate change [Ipsos]
- [Electric Vehicles] 53% of Americans support policies that would encourage the production of more electric or hybrid vehicles and fewer gas-powered vehicles in the U.S. [CBS News + YouGov]
FULL ROUNDUP
CBS News + YouGov – Americans have heard little about the Biden administration’s climate efforts, but the administration’s climate and environmental policies are popular when people learn about them [Biden administration climate action article, Climate and economy article]
Americans widely agree that the U.S. should take action to try to slow or stop climate change. Seven in ten Americans (70%) support the U.S. “taking steps to try to slow or stop the rate of climate change,” including nine in ten Democrats (91%), two-thirds of independents (68%), and around half of Republicans (48%).
Those who support climate action don’t believe it can wait. When asked when people should address the issue of climate change, just over half of Americans (52%) say that action should happen “right now.”
Far fewer say that the issue should be addressed in the next few years (17%) or further in the future (11%). Meanwhile, only one-fifth (20%) say that the issue doesn’t need to be addressed at any point.
Americans – and young Americans in particular – are mostly in the dark about what the Biden administration is doing on climate change. Only half of Americans (50%) say that they have heard “some” or “a lot” about what the Biden administration has done so far to deal with climate change, including just 14% who say that they’ve heard “a lot” about it.
Awareness of the Biden administration’s climate actions is particularly low among younger Americans, with only 40% of those aged 18-29 saying that they’ve heard at least “some” about the Biden administration’s actions on the issue. Awareness is also relatively low among Black Americans (43%) and Hispanic Americans (40%), two audiences who also express consistently high support for climate action.
Biden’s environmental accomplishments are well-received, particularly clean water protections and home energy efficiency incentives. While Americans have little familiarity with Biden’s climate and environmental record, his major policy actions on these issues tend to poll well when people hear about them.
Here, CBS News and YouGov find that more Americans support than oppose each of Biden’s environmental actions that they asked about. These include:
- More regulations to reduce toxic chemicals in drinking water (70% favor / 9% oppose)
- Rebates and tax credits to make homes more energy efficient (63% favor / 17% oppose)
- Spending on projects to reduce climate change (49% favor / 29% oppose)
- The U.S. joining international treaties such as the Paris Climate Agreement (47% favor / 26% oppose)
- Tax credits for buying an electric vehicle (43% favor / 35% oppose)
Democrats and Republicans tend to hold contrasting views about the impacts of climate action on the economy. Overall, Americans are slightly more likely to say that efforts to reduce climate change will mostly help the nation’s economy (36%) than hurt the nation’s economy (32%). However, at the individual level, they are more likely to say that efforts to reduce climate change will hurt (34%) than help (22%) their personal finances and cost of living.
Beneath the surface, there is deep partisan polarization over the economics of climate change. Most Democrats (60%) believe that efforts to reduce climate change will help the economy, while most Republicans (55%) say that these efforts will hurt the economy.
In terms of personal finances, Democrats are also relatively more likely to believe that climate action will have a positive impact (36% help / 15% hurt) while Republicans are much more pessimistic (12% help / 52% hurt).
It’s important to keep making the connection between extreme weather and climate change, especially as temperatures rise. The majority of Americans (54%) say that hearing about the earth experiencing the warmest temperatures on record makes them more concerned about climate change.
Meanwhile, extreme weather has become a salient issue for much of the country: half of Americans (50%) say that their area has experienced more extreme weather events in recent years, and around one-third (35%) say that people in their community have “suffered significant damage to their property” due to events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, or high temperatures.
There is also a general sense that climate change is contributing to extreme weather, as half of Americans (51%) believe that climate change is a “major” factor behind more severe extreme weather events in the U.S. these days and an additional 28% believe that climate change is a “minor” factor.
While Democrats (73%) are much more likely than Republicans (27%) to see climate change as a “major” factor behind extreme weather, the majority of Republicans (62%) still recognize that climate change is at least a “minor” factor in these events.
Ipsos – Steady majorities of Americans say that the government should do more to address global warming and will be failing the American people if it doesn’t take action; however, Americans have mixed attitudes about the economics of climate action [Release with link to full Earth Day poll report]
Steady majorities of Americans support climate action at the government, corporate, and individual levels. Ipsos finds that majorities of Americans agree with each of the following statements, with little change from Ipsos’s previous polling for Earth Day last year:
- The United States should do more in the fight against climate change (56% agree / 17% disagree)
- If the U.S. government does not act now to combat climate change, it will be failing the people of the United States (54% agree / 20% disagree)
- If individuals like me do not act now to combat climate change, we will be failing future generations (54% agree / 19% disagree)
- If businesses in the United States do not act now to combat climate change, they will be failing their employees and customers (52% agree / 20% disagree)
Few Americans agree with opposition arguments that it’s “too late” to address climate change or that action won’t make a difference. Ipsos also gauged reactions to several rationales for delaying or refusing to act on climate change, finding that few Americans agree with them. These negative statements include:
- Climate change is beyond our control – it’s too late to do anything about it (20% agree / 49% disagree)
- The negative impact of climate change is too far off in the future for me to worry about it (19% agree / 49% disagree)
- There is no point in changing my own behavior to tackle climate change because it won’t make any difference anyway (22% agree / 48% disagree)
However, the public isn’t as quick to reject the argument that we should delay climate action for economic reasons. Americans are more split in response to the negative rationale that “now is not the right time to be investing in measures to reduce climate change given the tough economic conditions” (33% agree / 36% disagree), underlining how important it is to convince the public of the economic benefits of climate action.
Gallup – Pollution of drinking water remains Americans’ top environmental concern, and few ever say that the government is doing “too much” to protect the environment [Article]
Clean water is consistently Americans’ top environmental priority. Consistent with previous polling by Gallup and others, more Americans express concerns about drinking water pollution than any other environmental issue. Below are the percentages of Americans who say that they worry “a great deal” about each of the environmental problems that Gallup asked about:
- Pollution of drinking water – 56% worry “a great deal”
- Pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs – 52%
- Contamination of soil and water by toxic waste – 52%
- Global warming or climate change – 42%
- Air pollution – 42%
- The loss of tropical rain forests – 40%
- Extinction of plant and animal species – 38%
Few Americans believe that the government can prioritize environmental protection too much. Only 19% of Americans say that the U.S. government is doing “too much” to protect the environment. Americans are far more likely to say that the government is doing too little (50%), while 28% believe that the government is doing “about the right amount.”
In Gallup’s tracking on this question going back to 2001, the percentage saying that the government is doing “too much” on the environment has tended to rise during Democratic presidential administrations like Biden’s and Obama’s but has never broken 20%. Meanwhile, half or more (and generally a higher figure during Republican administrations) consistently say that the U.S. government is doing too little to protect the environment.
This trend shows that actions to protect the environment are relatively unlikely to provoke much backlash, especially compared to other ways that Americans may feel that Democratic presidents go “too far.” Relatedly, Gallup finds that Americans are substantially more likely to approve of the job that Biden is doing on the environment (46%) than on other issues such as the economy (37%) or foreign affairs (33%).
Additionally, Gallup finds that Americans are more likely to prioritize environmental protection over economic growth when forced to choose between the two. Just over half (52%) say that environmental protection should be prioritized “even at the risk of curbing economic growth,” while 38% say that economic growth should be prioritized “even if the environment suffers to some extent.”
There is a climate-conscious majority that worries about climate change, recognizes its human causes, and understands that it is already happening. Around three-fifths of Americans believe or do each of the following:
- Worry at least “a fair” amount about global warming or climate change (62%)
- Say that pollution from human activities is the primary cause of increases in the Earth’s temperature over the past century (61%)
- Say that the effects of global warming have already begun (59%)
Most Americans heard about record temperatures last year. Around two-thirds (68%) say that they heard that 2023 was the Earth’s warmest year on record.
Related Resources
Environmental Polling Roundup – August 6th, 2021
This post includes a roundup of climate + environment headlines from this week’s public polls, good data points to highlight, and a full roundup including key takeaways from each poll.
Environmental Polling Roundup – August 23rd, 2021
This post includes a roundup of climate + environment headlines from this week’s public polls, good data points to highlight, and a full roundup including key takeaways from each poll.
Environmental Polling Roundup – August 27th, 2021
This post includes a roundup of climate + environment headlines from this week’s public polls, good data points to highlight, and a full roundup including key takeaways from each poll.