Environmental Polling Roundup – December 5, 2025
Headlines
The Economist + YouGov – The majority of Americans continue to say that the world’s climate is changing as a result of human activity, and Americans would rather have the federal government increase than decrease environmental funding [Topline, Crosstabs]
[AZ] Environmental Defense Fund – Arizona voters widely support the expansion of wind and solar in the state, and place the most blame for rising electricity costs on utility companies and the oil and gas industry [Release, Deck]
[FL] Florida Atlantic University – Floridians are concerned about several types of extreme weather events and most want the federal and state governments to address climate change, despite declining acknowledgement of climate change among Florida Republicans [Website, Press Release, Topline]
Key Takeaways
Blocking clean energy continues to be a losing policy. Polling voters in Arizona, where Republican legislators earlier this year introduced a bill that would create the harshest restrictions on wind power development in the country, EDF finds that Arizona voters are in no mood to curtail clean energy development.
Arizonans are more than twice as likely to support than oppose the expansion of wind and solar power in the state, and are also more than twice as likely to say that the state is investing too little in clean energy than to say that Arizona is investing too much in it.
And, in important findings for communicators, a test of the believability of several messages shows that most Arizona voters find it believable that bringing more clean energy online will both make electricity more reliable and lower utility costs and that restricting renewable energy will harm the state’s economy and consumers.
Real-world climate impacts are coming up against the power of ideologically-driven beliefs in Florida. The latest edition of Florida Atlantic University’s “Florida Climate Survey” tells a couple of different stories about how climate impacts in the state are shaping residents’ attitudes.
On the one hand, Floridians express concerns about many types of extreme weather in the state–including hurricanes, storm surge flooding, and rising temperatures. And these concerns are serious enough that more than one-third of Floridians say that they have already moved within the state, or are considering doing so, at least partly because of climate- or weather-related threats.
On the other hand, Floridians’ support for climate action by the federal and state governments is the lowest since Florida Atlantic University began tracking these attitudes in 2023. Additionally, fewer Republicans in the state acknowledge that climate change is happening than at any previous point in Florida Atlantic University’s tracking going back to 2019.
These findings illustrate how real-world impacts on their own have limited ability to change climate attitudes when they come up against ideologically-motivated reasoning. The interpretation of climate impacts is what matters for shifting beliefs, so advocates need to not only raise awareness about increasingly frequent and severe climate disasters but also make the connection between climate change and extreme weather clearer, counter misinformation on the topic, and also provide Republican audiences with a permission structure to break with a national party that is doubling down on climate denial.
Good Data Points to Highlight
[Climate Change] The majority of Americans (54%) recognize that the world’s climate is changing as a result of human activity, while 23% say that the climate is changing for other reasons and only 8% deny that the climate is changing [The Economist + YouGov]
[Environmental Funding] By a greater than two-to-one margin (50%-23%), more Americans say that the federal government should increase (50%) than decrease (23%) what it spends on the environment [The Economist + YouGov]
[AZ] 64% of Arizona voters support building more wind turbines and solar energy in the state [EDF]
[FL] 85% of Floridians recognize that climate change is happening, including 52% who say that it is largely due to human activity [FAU]
[FL] 62% of Floridians say that the federal government should do more to address the impacts of climate change [FAU]
[FL] 61% of Floridians say that the state government should do more to address the impacts of climate change [FAU]
Full Roundup
The Economist + YouGov – The majority of Americans continue to say that the world’s climate is changing as a result of human activity, and Americans would rather have the federal government increase than decrease environmental funding [Topline, Crosstabs]
The majority of Americans continue to say that humans are causing climate change. Most Americans (54%) recognize that the world’s climate is changing as a result of human activity, while 23% say that the world’s climate is changing due to other factors and only 8% deny that the world’s climate is changing at all.
Americans’ climate beliefs tend to shift around over the course of the year and often spike during periods of extreme weather. To that end, the 54% of Americans that The Economist and YouGov find now recognize human-caused climate change is nine points lower than they found in a late October survey (63%) that was fielded during Hurricane Melissa.
More long-term tracking data, like what Yale and GMU collect in their “Climate Change in the American Mind” study, shows that a steady majority of Americans believe that global warming is caused mostly by human activities and that this figure has been gradually rising over the past decade.
Partisans diverge more over what’s causing climate change than about whether it’s happening. The Economist and YouGov find that less than one in ten Americans (8%) deny that climate change is happening, including scant percentages of Democrats (2%) and independents (5%) and less than one in five Republicans (18%).
The vast majority of Democrats (87%) say that the world’s climate is changing as a result of human activity, and independents are more than twice as likely to blame human activity (54%) than other factors (22%) for the problem. Republicans, by contrast, are substantially more likely to say that the world’s climate is changing for reasons other than human activity (42%) than to say that humans are the cause (24%).
Americans would much rather see environmental funding increased than decreased. The Economist and YouGov asked respondents whether they’d prefer to increase, decrease, or maintain funding for a variety of priorities.
When it comes to the environment, half (50%) say that federal funding should be increased, 19% say that it should be kept the same, and less than one-quarter (23%) say that funding should be decreased. And while Republicans are far more likely than other groups to support cutting environmental funding, this is still a minority viewpoint (43%) among Republicans.
For comparison, the percentage of Americans who want to decrease spending on the environment (23%) is roughly on par with the percentages who want to cut funding for SNAP (22%) and for national defense (24%)–ideas that are rightfully seen as politically toxic in Washington.
[AZ] Environmental Defense Fund – Arizona voters widely support the expansion of wind and solar in the state, and place the most blame for rising electricity costs on utility companies and the oil and gas industry [Release, Deck]
Arizonans place the most blame for rising electricity costs on electric utility companies and oil and gas companies, while few blame renewable energy. Electricity ranks as a major cost of living concern in Arizona just as in the rest of the country; when asked which household costs concern them most, Arizona voters rank only food and groceries, housing costs, and health care ahead of electricity.
And when asked how much they blame a wide variety of actors and events for rising electricity prices, Arizonans place the most blame on utilities and oil and gas companies and place the least blame on the renewable energy industry.
Below are the percentages who say that different entities and factors deserve “a lot” of blame for rising electricity costs in the state:
- Electric utility companies – 54% blame “a lot”
- Oil and gas industry – 44%
- The Trump administration and Republicans – 40%
- The Biden administration and Democrats – 38%
- The construction of data centers – 35%
- Trade wars and tariffs – 35%
- Arizona state Republicans – 34%
- Arizona state Democrats – 29%
- The changing climate – 27%
- Consumer demand for electricity – 26%
- The renewable energy industry – 19%
The majority of Arizona voters support expanding solar and wind in the state. By a greater than two-to-one margin (64% support / 29% oppose), Arizona voters support building more wind and solar energy in the state. Support for the idea rises to 70% among political independents.
A plurality of Arizonans say that the state is investing too little in clean energy, while less than one-fifth believe that the state is investing too much in it. More than two in five (43%) say that the state is currently investing too little in clean energy, and only 18% say that the state is investing too much in clean energy. An additional 15% believe that the state is investing the right amount in clean energy, while around one-quarter (24%) don’t know enough to say.
No major subgroup of the electorate currently believes that the state is investing too much in clean energy technologies, with only 34% of Arizona Republicans holding this view.
Majorities of Arizonans find it believable both that renewable energy reduces the cost of utilities and that it increases the reliability of electricity. In testing the believability of several arguments in favor of renewable energy, EDF encouragingly finds that majorities of Arizonans say that it’s believable that clean energy will both increase electricity reliability and decrease costs–the two priorities that consistently rank as the most important to voters for their electricity:
- Bringing more renewable energy sources onto the electric grid will make the electricity that powers our homes more reliable – 65% find this statement at least “somewhat” believable
- Building new renewable energy projects will bring down the cost of utilities – 59%
- State policies that restrict renewable energy discourage economic growth and end up costing Arizonans more in the long run – 58%
- Communities with wind and solar projects have more money to spend on local projects, such as improving roads, providing emergency services, and updating schools – 49%
[FL] Florida Atlantic University – Floridians are concerned about several types of extreme weather events and most want the federal and state governments to address climate change, despite declining acknowledgement of climate change among Florida Republicans [Website, Press Release, Topline]
Most Floridians are concerned about a range of climate impacts–including hurricanes, rising temperatures, flooding, and rising sea levels. Majorities say that they’re at least “moderately” concerned about each of the following:
- Hurricanes becoming stronger and/or more frequent in Florida – 63% at least “moderately” concerned
- Higher storm surge flooding near Florida’s coastline – 61%
- Flooding from rainfall becoming more frequent in Florida – 61%
- Temperatures rising in Florida – 61%
- Florida’s rising sea levels – 55%
- Florida droughts becoming stronger and/or more frequent – 52%
Around one-third of Floridians say that they’ve moved or are considering moving because of climate or weather-related threats. Roughly one in six Floridians (17%) say that they have already moved within the state because of or partly due to climate or weather-related threats such as hurricanes, extreme heat, and flooding.
An additional 19% say that they have not yet moved for these reasons but are considering doing so.
Beyond extreme weather, Floridians also have widespread concerns about the state’s drinking water supply, energy costs, and the health of Florida’s natural environment. Large majorities say that they are concerned about each of these additional problems related to energy and the environment:
- Losing access to Florida’s clean and reliable drinking water supplies – 68% at least “moderately” concerned
- The health of Florida’s natural environment (such as coral reefs, wetlands, and fisheries) – 68%
- Home energy costs – 67%
Around half of Floridians say that climate change makes them concerned about home insurance costs. Just under half (49%) agree that climate change has them concerned about being able to afford and maintain their homeowner’s insurance in Florida.
And while we’d expect this figure to be higher in a state that’s so susceptible to climate impacts and where climate change has already created an insurance crisis, Floridians’ attitudes on the topic track with polling at the national level. Yale and GMU found earlier this year, for example, that 48% of Americans believe that global warming is contributing at least “some” to the rising cost of homeowner’s insurance.
A poll by Third Way this year found broader agreement (64%) with the following statement that draws a clear connection between climate change and insurance costs, both for homeowners and renters: “Climate change is causing more natural disasters, which is driving up the cost of homeowners’ and renters’ insurance for people like me.”
Most Floridians want the federal and state governments to act on climate change, but support for climate action has declined. Around three in five Floridians say that the federal government (62%) and state government (61%) should do more to address the impacts of climate change. However, these are the lowest figures that Florida Atlantic University has recorded on these questions in six surveys going back to March 2023.
While Democrats and independents in the state demonstrate consistent climate beliefs, Florida Republicans’ recognition of climate change has been falling in recent years. In their tracking of Floridians’ climate beliefs over the past several years, Florida Atlantic University has found relatively little variation in the percentages of Democrats (consistently around 95%) and independents (steadily between 85%-95%) who recognize that climate change is happening.
And while the majority of Republicans in the state (74%) also recognize that climate change is happening, this percentage has been sliding over the past few years. Nearly nine in ten Florida Republicans (88%) acknowledged the reality of climate change as recently as 2021, but this percentage has trended downward since and is now at the lowest level since Florida Atlantic University began tracking it in 2019.
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