Environmental Polling Roundup – August 18, 2023
HEADLINES
Navigator – Voters continue to support the Inflation Reduction Act by a wide margin a year after its passage [Release, Deck, Topline]
Data for Progress – The Inflation Reduction Act’s core climate and clean energy provisions remain popular [Article, Topline]
The Economist + YouGov – More than half of Americans now say that they’ve personally felt the effects of climate change [Topline, Crosstabs]
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Emphasizing manufacturing and “made in America” provisions helps to broaden support for the Inflation Reduction Act and the clean energy transition. Data for Progress finds robust support for the Inflation Reduction Act’s core climate and clean energy provisions a year after the bill’s passage, with particularly high bipartisan support for policies that boost U.S. manufacturing and American-made clean energy technologies. These findings are consistent with other polling on the topic, which has shown that emphasizing energy independence and the revitalization of American manufacturing helps to expand support for the clean energy transition – particularly with conservative audiences that can otherwise be skeptical of the transition.
- We’re continuing to see a summer spike in the salience of climate change. Polling by The Economist and YouGov this summer has shown a gradual rise in the percentage of Americans who say that they’ve personally felt the impacts of climate change, and we tend to see an increase in climate concern during the hotter months when the effects of climate change are more readily apparent to everyday people. The challenge for climate advocates is to make the link between climate change and extreme weather like heat waves more intuitive for the public, both so that people more readily see climate change as a factor when they’re experiencing extreme weather and to make sure the association holds up during months when people don’t feel as directly impacted.
GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT
- [Inflation Reduction Act] Voters support the Inflation Reduction Act by a 65%-22% margin after reading a brief description of it [Navigator]
- [Inflation Reduction Act] 80% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act’s standards to ensure that businesses receiving government clean energy tax credits pay their workers a fair wage and make their goods in America [Data for Progress]
- [Inflation Reduction Act] 73% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act’s provision to ramp up production of American-made clean energy technologies to strengthen our energy supply chains and manufacturing industries [Data for Progress]
- [Inflation Reduction Act] 73% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act’s penalties for oil and gas companies that are found to have pumped out excess methane gas pollution into the air [Data for Progress]
- [Inflation Reduction Act] 71% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act’s investments to reduce pollution and improve public health in disadvantaged communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate change [Data for Progress]
- [Inflation Reduction Act] 70% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act’s provision of up to $14,000 in rebates on home energy efficiency investments per household that save families money and help reduce reliance on fossil fuels [Data for Progress]
- [Inflation Reduction Act] 69% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits for businesses that produce clean electricity such as solar and wind power, electric vehicles, and other new clean energy technologies [Data for Progress]
- [Climate Change] 58% of Americans recognize that the world’s climate is changing as a result of human activity [The Economist + YouGov]
- [Climate Change] 52% of Americans say that they have personally felt the effects of climate change [The Economist + YouGov]
- [Issue Priority] More Americans name climate change and the environment as the single “most important issue” to them than any other issue aside from inflation/prices, health care, and the economy/jobs [The Economist + YouGov]
- [Issue Priority] More Americans name climate change and the environment as the single “most important issue” to them than any other issue aside from inflation/prices, health care, and the economy/jobs [The Economist + YouGov]
FULL ROUNDUP
Navigator – Voters continue to support the Inflation Reduction Act by a wide margin a year after its passage [Release, Deck, Topline]
Navigator confirms once again that when voters hear even basic information about the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), they overwhelmingly like it.
Voters support the legislation by a nearly three-to-one margin (65% support / 22% oppose) after reading the description below. This level of support is consistent with Navigator’s polling on the IRA over the past year.
“As you may know, Biden and Democrats’ legislation that was passed by Congress is called the Inflation Reduction Act, which will give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, bring down health insurance premiums, and invest in clean energy like wind and solar power.”
Nearly nine in ten Democrats (89% support / 2% oppose) and the majority of independents (54% support / 22% oppose) support the bill after reading this description, and Republicans are close to evenly split in their views (42% support / 43% oppose). The fact that the IRA roughly breaks even among Republican voters is a rarity in these polarized times for a piece of legislation that’s associated with the opposition party, and it speaks to the enduring appeal of the bill’s substance.
Navigator additionally finds that support for the IRA has held up even as news coverage about it has tapered off. About two in five voters say that they’ve heard at least “some” about the IRA (41%), down from 63% last August.
Data for Progress – The Inflation Reduction Act’s core climate and clean energy provisions remain popular [Article, Topline]
Data for Progress also released fresh polling on the IRA this week, and they find that the IRA’s core climate and clean energy provisions all enjoy wide margins of support.
Large majorities (69%+) support each of the six IRA provisions that Data for Progress asked about, including:
- Standards to ensure that businesses receiving government clean energy tax credits pay their workers a fair wage and make their goods in America (80% support / 12% oppose)
- Penalties for oil and gas companies that are found to have pumped out excess methane gas pollution into the air (73% support / 16% oppose)
- Ramping up production of American-made clean energy technologies to strengthen our energy supply chains and manufacturing industries (73% support / 16% oppose)
- Investments to reduce pollution and improve public health in disadvantaged communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate change (71% support / 17% oppose)
- Providing up to $14,000 in rebates on home energy efficiency investments per household that save families money and help reduce reliance on fossil fuels (71% support / 17% oppose)
- Tax credits for businesses that produce clean electricity such as solar and wind power, electric vehicles, and other new clean energy technologies (69% support / 22% oppose)
Notably, Data for Progress finds that all six of these IRA provisions enjoy equal or greater support now than when Data for Progress previously asked about them in November 2022.
The increase in support for these policies is driven in large part by Republican voters, and one possible explanation for this is that Republicans may be more willing to express support for Democratic legislation outside of an election year.
The poll finds that provisions focused on U.S. manufacturing and jobs earn particularly high cross-partisan support: about two-thirds of Republican voters (67%) support the IRA’s provision to ramp up production of American-made clean energy technologies that strengthen our energy supply chains and manufacturing industries, while three-quarters of Republican voters (75%) support standards to ensure that businesses receiving government clean energy tax credits pay their workers a fair wage and make their goods in America.
These findings are consistent with other research that we’ve seen on the IRA and the clean energy transition in general, as Republican audiences tend to respond well to messaging focused on energy independence and the economic benefits of clean energy.
The Economist + YouGov – More than half of Americans now say that they’ve personally felt the effects of climate change [Topline, Crosstabs]
The Economist and YouGov find that the majority of Americans (52%) now say that they’ve personally been impacted by climate change, and we’ve seen this figure gradually rise over the course of the summer.
The percentage who say that they’ve personally felt the effects of climate change is now five points higher than in mid-June (47%), as we commonly see climate change take on more personal salience in hotter months. Researchers at Yale and George Mason have previously found that hot, dry days in particular increase Americans’ perceived experience with global warming, so it’s no surprise to see people report that they feel more impacted after recent heat waves.
The challenge for climate advocates is to make the link between climate change and extreme weather more intuitive for the public, both so that people more readily see climate change as a factor when they’re experiencing extreme weather and to make sure the association holds up during months when people don’t feel as directly impacted.
The Economist and YouGov also asked about the recent wildfires in Hawaii and they find that roughly nine in ten Americans (91%) have heard about the Maui wildfires – including about half (52%) who have heard “a lot” about the topic.
Americans are divided on whether climate change is a main cause of the wildfires, with 37% agreeing more that the wildfires in Maui are “primarily the result of climate change” and 36% agreeing more that events like the Maui wildfires “just happen from time to time.” The majority of self-identified Democrats (59%) agree that climate change is a primary cause of the Hawaiian wildfires, while most self-identified Republicans (54%) say that events like this just happen from time to time.
This kind of partisan split in Americans’ interpretations of weather disasters has become very common. While beliefs about the connection between climate change and extreme weather are generally trending upward, we tend to see the influence of climate change downplayed in conservative media coverage of extreme weather events.
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