Environmental Polling Roundup – February 7, 2025
Headlines
Data for Progress – Voters have mixed feelings about Trump’s early actions on energy and the environment; while Republicans’ devotion bolsters overall support for these actions, nearly all are deeply underwater with independents [Article, Crosstabs]
The Economist + YouGov – Americans want Elon Musk to have little or no influence on the administration, but most believe he’s playing a major role; amid DOGE attacks, Americans have positive attitudes about the National Weather Service, FEMA, and other government agencies [Topline, Crosstabs]
Key Takeaways
Trump’s early actions on energy and the environment are deeply divisive, with limited support beyond the Republican base. Data for Progress finds that voters have mixed opinions about energy and environmental actions that Trump has taken so far, such as withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, expanding drilling on public lands, and halting new wind projects.
While generally steadfast support among Republican voters prevents any of these actions from being dramatically unpopular with voters overall, it’s notable how little appeal these actions have beyond the Republican base. Data for Progress finds that independents tend to oppose these actions by wide margins, underscoring how much Trump is playing to his base with these policies rather than broadening support for his energy agenda.
Americans say that Elon Musk holds far more influence over the government than they would like. Public opinion is turning against Musk, as The Economist and YouGov find that his favorability is now underwater (43% favorable / 49% unfavorable). Additionally, Americans are about twice as likely to view him very unfavorably than very favorably.
Americans, including Republicans, are also much more likely to say that Musk holds “a lot” of influence in the Trump administration than to say that they want him to hold a lot of influence in the administration.
As advocates try to defend the government’s ability to conduct basic functions like environmental protection, Musk is emerging as a compelling “villain” for our communications. Per recent reporting, these findings also mirror internal Democratic polling that has identified Musk as an effective target in their messaging.
Good Data Points to Highlight
- [IRA] 72% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act after reading a brief, two-sentence description of it [Data for Progress]
- [Climate Action] 70% of voters support taking action to address climate change [Data for Progress]
- [Public Lands + Energy] By a 52%-38% margin, voters say that the federal government should prioritize clean energy over fossil fuels for new energy projects on public lands [Data for Progress]
Full Roundup
Data for Progress – Voters have mixed feelings about Trump’s early actions on energy and the environment; while Republicans’ devotion bolsters overall support for these actions, nearly all are deeply underwater with independents [Article, Crosstabs]
News about Trump’s climate and energy plans is starting to break through, but not grabbing voters’ attention. Only around one-quarter of voters (27%) say that they’ve heard “a lot” about the Trump administration’s plans for the climate and energy, while an additional 46% say that they’ve heard “a little” about the administration’s plans on these issues.
Voters have mixed feelings about Trump’s early actions on energy and the environment. Overall, voters tend to be closely split on the administration’s actions on these issues when informed about them.
Data for Progress asked about the following six actions, with none garnering majority support:
- Ending the distribution of federal funding to build domestic electric vehicle manufacturing and charging facilities and to lower the cost of new and used EVs (49% support / 36% oppose)
- Declaring a national energy emergency to increase the production of fossil fuels (43% support / 40% oppose)
- Ending federal protections against oil and gas drilling and resource extraction throughout Alaska, including within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (42% support / 44% oppose)
- Withdrawing the U.S. from the pollution reduction and financial commitments that the U.S. agreed to under the international Paris Climate Agreement (41% support / 45% oppose)
- Banning the approval of any offshore wind energy projects or onshore wind energy projects on federal lands (38% support / 45% oppose)
- Ending the American Climate Corps, a program that hires and trains young Americans to prepare them for clean energy and energy efficiency-related careers (38% support / 48% oppose)
As this list shows, Trump’s actions to halt new wind projects and to end the American Climate Corps program are especially unpopular.
While responses to Trump’s actions on energy and the environment are predictably polarized by voters’ partisanship, these actions are notably unpopular with independent voters. Data for Progress finds that partisans have the kinds of polarized reactions that you would expect for most Trump administration policies: majorities of Democrats oppose each action that was included in the survey, while majorities of Republicans approve of each one.
It’s notable, however, that independents’ reactions are much closer to Democrats’ than to Republicans’–illustrating how much Trump is playing to his base with these decisions rather than trying to broaden support for his agenda.
All of the actions that Data for Progress asked about, with the exception of stopping federal funding for EVs, are more than 10 points underwater among independent voters:
- Ending the distribution of federal funding to build domestic electric vehicle manufacturing and charging facilities and to lower the cost of new and used EVs (46% support / 40% oppose among independents)
- Declaring a national energy emergency to increase the production of fossil fuels (36% support / 48% oppose)
- Ending federal protections against oil and gas drilling and resource extraction throughout Alaska, including within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (34% support / 52% oppose)
- Withdrawing the U.S. from the pollution reduction and financial commitments that the U.S. agreed to under the international Paris Climate Agreement (33% support / 54% oppose)
- Banning the approval of any offshore wind energy projects or onshore wind energy projects on federal lands (31% support / 56% oppose)
- Ending the American Climate Corps, a program that hires and trains young Americans to prepare them for clean energy and energy efficiency-related careers (30% support / 53% oppose)
Voters would rather see public lands used for clean energy than fossil fuel extraction. By a 52%-38% margin, voters say that they would prefer the federal government prioritize new clean energy projects like wind turbines and solar farms (52%) rather than new fossil fuel projects like oil and gas drilling sites (38%) for energy development on public lands.
Again, independents are much more aligned with Democrats than with Republicans on this point. Democrats say that they want clean energy prioritized by a 72%-16% margin, independents want clean energy prioritized by a roughly two-to-one margin (61%-31%), and Republicans stand alone in wanting to prioritize fossil fuel projects (28% clean energy / 63% fossil fuels).
The Economist + YouGov – Americans want Elon Musk to have little or no influence on the administration, but most believe he’s playing a major role; amid DOGE attacks, Americans have positive attitudes about the National Weather Service, FEMA, and other government agencies [Topline, Crosstabs]
Elon Musk, once popular among Democrats, is now viewed like a Republican politician. The Economist and YouGov find that Musk is now underwater with the American public (43% favorable / 49% unfavorable), and Americans are about twice as likely to have a “very unfavorable” opinion of him (36%) than a “very favorable” one (19%).
Attitudes about Musk are also deeply polarized, as 82% of Democrats feel unfavorably about him and 80% of Republicans feel favorably. These are the types of numbers you would expect to see for a Republican politician, and underscore how much Musk’s image is now tied to Trump’s.
Musk was actually more popular among Democrats than Republicans at one point, though that changed when he took ownership of Twitter and began associating with more far-right figures.
Americans believe that Musk has “a lot” of influence in the Trump administration, but want him to have little or none. Around half of Americans (51%) say that Musk has “a lot” of influence within Trump’s administration, and an additional 32% say that he has “a little” influence. Just 4% say that Musk has no influence at all.
When Americans are asked about their own preferences, however, only 13% say that they want Musk to have “a lot” of influence and 46% want him to have none at all.
Even Republicans say that Musk has more influence than they want: only around one-quarter (26%) of Republicans want Musk to have “a lot” of influence in the administration, while 35% recognize that he does.
Most Americans feel positively about government agencies like the National Weather Service and FEMA. As Musks’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) looks to make drastic cuts throughout the federal government, Americans mostly hold federal agencies in high regard.
The National Weather Service is especially popular (76% favorable / 10% unfavorable), as are NASA (71% favorable / 14% unfavorable), the CDC (63% favorable / 25% unfavorable), and the FDA (61% favorable / 29% unfavorable).
Most Americans also have favorable attitudes about FEMA (55% favorable / 30% unfavorable).
It’s notable that the agency that Trump is most committed to empowering rather than cutting, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement / ICE, is the least popular in the survey (50% favorable / 35% unfavorable).