Environmental Polling Roundup – February 9, 2024
HEADLINES
Unlocking America’s Future + Data for Progress – Voters widely support “responsible investing” rules from the SEC that require businesses to disclose climate-related financial risks; few are hearing negative information about ESG [Article, Crosstabs]
[Coastal Counties] Turn Forward + Climate Nexus – Americans in coastal counties have overwhelmingly positive attitudes about offshore wind energy and support offshore wind near where they live; energy independence is a strong rationale for expanding offshore wind, though there are concerns about impacts on wildlife [Heatmap Article, Press Release, Topline]
Data for Progress – Voters consistently support the idea of a Green New Deal when they learn what it would contain [Article, Crosstabs]
EV Politics Project – Cultural attitudes drive the partisan split on electric vehicles, as Democrats and Republicans disagree more about whether electric vehicles are for “people like them” than on any of the specific benefits or downsides of EVs [InsideEVs Article]
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Education is the best way to combat fearmongering about the Green New Deal and ESG. Recent polls by Data for Progress indicate that the Green New Deal and ESG are not the toxic terms that environmental advocates feared they would become in the face of onslaughts from opposition media. Voters support both of these concepts when they learn basic information about them and, importantly, ESG (or “responsible investing”) and the Green New Deal both stand up to scrutiny as voters continue to support them after seeing opposition arguments. While the force of opposition campaigns gave some advocates pause about publicly embracing these ideas, the reality is that any idea will be unpopular if the public only hears from its opponents. ESG and the Green New Deal continue to hold intrinsic appeal to voters, and it’s important for advocates to continue to defend them on their merits instead of ceding the debates on these topics to opponents of climate action.
- U.S. energy independence should be front and center in messaging about clean energy expansion. In a poll of Americans in coastal counties, Turn Forward and Climate Nexus find that U.S. energy independence is the strongest rationale for expanding offshore wind energy. This is consistent with lots of polling in the last two years, as energy independence has become an increasingly salient benefit of the clean energy transition. Recent polling on EVs from the EV Politics Project, meanwhile, finds that cultural factors continue to be the main barrier to EV interest among Republicans. Patriotic arguments about U.S. energy independence have proven resonance with conservative audiences, and it is critical to change conservatives’ cultural perceptions of EVs in order to bring them on board with the EV transition. Re-framing EV purchases as the patriotic choice to support U.S. manufacturing and the U.S. auto industry could go a long way to achieving this goal.
GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT
- [Responsible Investing/ESG] 71% of voters support “responsible investing” after a brief description of it that explains that “responsible investing involves considering environmental, social, and governance issues when making investment decisions” [Unlocking America’s Future + Data for Progress]
- [Responsible Investing/ESG] By a greater than three-to-one margin (66%-21%), voters support a proposed SEC rule requiring disclosure of climate-related financial risks after reading an explanation of the proposed rule [Unlocking America’s Future + Data for Progress]
- [Offshore Wind] 66% of Americans in coastal counties have favorable attitudes about offshore wind energy, while just 18% feel unfavorably about it [Turn Forward + Climate Nexus]
- [Offshore Wind] 63% of Americans in coastal counties support the construction of offshore wind farms in U.S. waters near where they live, while just 23% oppose offshore wind farms near them [Turn Forward + Climate Nexus]
- [Offshore Wind] 61% of Americans in coastal counties say that expanding offshore wind in U.S. waters would be good for U.S. energy independence [Turn Forward + Climate Nexus]
- [Offshore Wind] 59% of Americans in coastal counties support the U.S. government selling more leases to expand development of offshore wind farms [Turn Forward + Climate Nexus]
- [Green New Deal] 65% of voters support the Green New Deal after reading a brief, one-paragraph description of it [Data for Progress]
- [Green New Deal] By a greater than two-to-one margin (62% support / 26% oppose), voters support their member of Congress cosponsoring the Green New Deal resolution when it is reintroduced in Congress [Data for Progress]
- [Green New Deal] By a two-to-one margin (57% more likely / 28% less likely), voters say that they are more likely to vote to reelect their member of Congress if they cosponsor the Green New Deal [Data for Progress]
FULL ROUNDUP
Unlocking America’s Future + Data for Progress – Voters widely support “responsible investing” rules from the SEC that require businesses to disclose climate-related financial risks; few are hearing negative information about ESG [Article, Crosstabs]
We’ve seen a small amount of polling on ESG in the past, including research by Climate Power and Data for Progress last year that indicated that advocates should re-brand “ESG” as “responsible investing.”
That’s the approach that Unlocking America’s Future and Data for Progress took in this new poll, and they find that voters across party lines support the idea of “responsible investing” that considers environmental, social, and governance issues once they learn about it.
Just over seven in ten voters (71%) – including majorities of Democrats (80%), independents (69%), and Republicans (64%) – say that they support “responsible investing” based on the description below.
“Responsible investing involves considering environmental, social, and governance issues when making investment decisions.
Investors and people saving for retirement can practice responsible investing by choosing to invest in companies which consider these factors. Business owners and decision makers like CEOs can also practice responsible investment by ensuring their company considers these factors when making business decisions.”
Majorities also support the proposed SEC rule to require disclosure of climate-related financial risks when they learn about the rule. Voters support the new rule by a greater than three-to-one margin (66% support / 21% oppose) after reading the description below, and it also attracts majority support from Democrats (80%), independents (65%), and Republicans (55%).
“The federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently proposed a rule requiring some businesses to include information about potential climate-related financial risks in their financial reporting statements. These statements are used by investors and potential investors to understand risks to the company’s financial health.
When announcing this proposal, the Chair of the SEC stated that the intent of the rule was: ‘to provide investors with consistent, comparable, and decision-useful information for making their investment decisions.’”
The notion that disclosure of climate-related financial risks will allow families, businesses, and other investors to make better and more informed decisions is an important one. Since critics of ESG try to paint it as a restrictive measure to limit investors’ choices, it’s important to clarify that this new SEC rule is actually about increasing the amount of information available to investors.
This is borne out in a split-sample messaging experiment in the poll. When presented with different arguments against a standard opposition message about disclosure of climate-related financial risks (“a requirement to release information about climate-related financial risks is an overreach that will impose costs on businesses across the economy and result in a flood of useless information”), the most persuasive message in favor of requiring climate-related financial risk disclosure is that it will lead to more informed investment decisions.
Below are the positive messages that were tested in the poll, along with the margins by which voters sided with each of these positive arguments over the opposition statement.
- More informed investment decisions: Having more information about climate-related financial risks means making more informed investment decisions, whether you’re a business owner, investor, or just planning for retirement (+29 margin)
- Standard transparency requirement: This is a standard transparency requirement that is no different than businesses having to share information about other kinds of financial risks in their annual reports (+24 margin)
- [Big Oil] Big Oil is fighting against this rule because they know that having to be more transparent about climate impacts on their long-term revenues would show how risky of an investment their industry really is (+9 margin)
The poll also finds that, while the “responsible investing” branding is more broadly appealing, “ESG” as a term isn’t toxic. Voters have overwhelmingly favorable reactions to the term “responsible investing” (75% favorable / 6% unfavorable), but are also much more likely to react positively than negatively to the term “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing” (50% favorable / 21% unfavorable).
Even among Republicans, who have been the target of the anti-ESG campaign in right-wing media, attitudes about ESG are slightly more positive than negative (37% favorable / 32% unfavorable).
The poll indicates that the anti-ESG campaign is failing to break through to the mainstream. Roughly two in five voters (41%) say they haven’t read or heard about ESG investing, while 40% have heard neutral information about it and 10% have heard mostly positive information about it. Meanwhile, only 9% of voters – including just 13% of Republicans – have heard “mostly negative” information about ESG investing.
As this data shows, ESG is not the bogeyman that its opponents have tried to turn it into. Most everyday people are just trying to get on with their lives, blissfully unaware of manufactured controversies about ESG. And in a balanced debate about the virtues of ESG/responsible investing, ESG advocates win.
Environmental advocates therefore shouldn’t be afraid to engage in a debate about ESG, and should respond to misinformation about it by educating the public about the virtues of responsible investing policies that will allow people to make more informed decisions for their retirement and financial planning.
[Coastal Counties] Turn Forward + Climate Nexus – Americans in coastal counties have overwhelmingly positive attitudes about offshore wind energy and support offshore wind near where they live; energy independence is a strong rationale for expanding offshore wind, though there are concerns about impacts on wildlife [Heatmap Article, Press Release, Topline]
This newly released polling from Turn Forward and Climate Nexus finds that the Americans who would be most affected by offshore wind expansion overwhelmingly support it.
Surveying Americans who live in coastal counties, they find that these Americans have overwhelmingly positive attitudes about offshore wind and its expansion – including in their own areas:
- 68% support the construction of offshore wind farms to harness wind
- energy in U.S. waters, with just 17% opposed
- 66% have favorable views of offshore wind energy, while just 18% feel unfavorably
- 64% believe that offshore wind energy is “very” or “somewhat” reliable
- 63% support the construction of offshore wind farms to harness wind energy in U.S. waters near where they live, with just 23% opposed
These positive opinions of offshore wind are rooted in beliefs that it is good for U.S. energy independence, the economy, consumers, and public health as well as the climate. On nearly every dimension asked about in the poll, Americans in coastal counties believe that expanding offshore wind will have much more of a positive than negative impact:
- U.S. energy independence – 61% good / 7% bad
- Jobs and the economy – 55% good / 8% bad
- Energy bills paid by consumers – 50% good / 9% bad
- The climate – 50% good / 9% bad
- Public health – 47% good / 9% bad
- Wildlife – 31% good / 29% bad
As this data shows, increased U.S. energy independence stands out as the clearest benefit of offshore wind expansion for coastal Americans. This is consistent with lots of recent polling that we’ve seen, as energy independence has grown into a very strong rationale for clean energy expansion.
On the flip side, impacts on wildlife are the clearest concern about offshore wind. In fact, possible harms to wildlife are the only significant concern that respondents in the poll reported about offshore wind. Nearly three in ten (29%) said that expanded offshore wind would have a negative impact on wildlife, while fewer than 10% said that it would have a negative impact on any other dimension.
We’ve seen other research that indicates that clean energy advocates should tackle misinformation about the impact of offshore wind farms on whales head-on, using trusted, third-party validators such as ocean scientists to clarify that there is no evidence linking offshore wind to whale deaths.
Data for Progress – Voters consistently support the idea of a Green New Deal when they learn what it would contain [Article, Crosstabs]
In addition to ESG, Data for Progress recently conducted polling on another frequent target of right-wing media fearmongering: the Green New Deal.
As with ESG, they find that the Green New Deal brand is not toxic and that large majorities of voters can be persuaded to support a Green New Deal when they learn basic information about it.
Specifically, they find that nearly two-thirds of voters (65%) – including majorities of Democrats (85%) and independents (64%), as well as a plurality of Republicans (45%) – support a Green New Deal when provided with the information below.
“Some lawmakers are reintroducing the Green New Deal, a proposal modeled off of the ‘New Deal’ programs created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.
A Green New Deal would put tens of millions of people to work in good-paying, union jobs modernizing our infrastructure making it more resilient to extreme weather and slowing the pace of climate change. The Green New Deal would also center frontline communities who have been disproportionately impacted by climate change and pollution in decision- making and resource allocation.”
Just as with ESG, we can see that there is broad support for the Green New Deal when voters see the actual policy behind it and not just the caricature created by its opponents.
This finding is consistent with past polling by Data for Progress, which also found clear majority support for the Green New Deal in 2021 when voters saw the same description of it.
Support for the Green New Deal also stands up to scrutiny. When presented with the competing statements for and against the Green New Deal below, voters side more with supporters than opponents of the Green New Deal by a nearly two-to-one margin (59%-31%):
- 59% side more with an argument that “lawmakers should pass the Green New Deal because we need to put Americans back to work, fight climate change, address social and racial injustice, and combat air and water pollution and related diseases like asthma and lead poisoning.”
- 31% side more with an argument that “lawmakers should not pass the Green New Deal because it is a waste of taxpayer money that will increase the national debt.”
The poll also suggests that lawmakers, like environmental advocates, shouldn’t be afraid to lean into the Green New Deal. By roughly two-to-one margins, voters say that they support their member of Congress cosponsoring the Green New Deal when it is reintroduced in Congress (62% support / 26% oppose) and say that they would be more likely to vote to reelect their member of Congress if they cosponsor the Green New Deal (57% more likely / 28% less likely).
In addition to the core Green New Deal proposal, Data for Progress also finds majority support for related proposals for education, cities/infrastructure, public housing, and health after voters read paragraph-long descriptions of each:
- Green New Deal for Health – 68% support / 23% oppose
- Green New Deal for Public Schools – 68% support / 25% oppose
- Green New Deal for Public Housing – 67% support / 25% oppose
- Green New Deal – 65% support / 25% oppose
- Green New Deal for Cities – 63% support / 28% oppose
EV Politics Project – Cultural attitudes drive the partisan split on electric vehicles, as Democrats and Republicans disagree more about whether electric vehicles are for “people like them” than on any of the specific benefits or downsides of EVs [InsideEVs Article]
One of the strange aspects of polling on EVs, which are consistently one of the most consistently polarizing topics in the clean energy transition, is that Democrats and Republicans tend to agree more often than not about the main benefits and drawbacks of EVs. However, partisans still show dramatically different levels of interest in purchasing EVs.
In this new survey of Americans with household incomes of $50,000 or more (intended to approximate the market for new cars in the U.S.), Democrats and Republicans have very similar answers when asked to name their two greatest concerns about owning an electric vehicle. Below are the top three concerns for each group:
- Expensive – 60% of Republicans, 59% of Democrats
- Insufficient range for trips – 55% of Republicans, 53% of Democrats
- Charger networks are unreliable – 42% of Republicans, 43% of Democrats
The one notable difference on this question is that Republicans (29%) are more likely than Democrats (17%) to express concerns that EV batteries are from China or bad for the environment, though the difference here isn’t huge and battery sourcing doesn’t rank among the top concerns for either group.
In terms of the strongest rationales in favor of purchasing an electric vehicle, Democrats and Republicans also agree that never having to pay for gas is a top benefit. There is a notable difference, however, in partisans’ ranking of the environmental benefits – which are a top-tier rationale for Democrats but a second-tier rationale for Republicans.
Here are the top rationales for each group when they are asked to name the two best reasons to own an EV:
- Never paying for gas – 54% of Republicans, 59% of Democrats
- Good for environment – 33% of Republicans, 60% of Democrats
- Rebate from government – 27% of Republicans, 23% of Democrats
- New technology is appealing – 19% of Republicans, 33% of Democrats
Still, despite all these areas of agreement, Democrats (39%) are more than twice as likely as Republicans (17%) to say that they are seriously interested in buying an EV in the next year or two. Additionally, more than two in five Republicans (44%, compared to 26% of Democrats) say that they will probably never buy an EV.
There is one data point in the poll that probably explains more than any other why interest in EVs lags among Republicans: the majority of Republicans (59%) agree that “EVs are for people who see the world differently than I do.” By comparison, only 25% of Democrats agree with this statement.
From a consumer perspective, polls consistently show that there are clear benefits to lean into (saving money on fuel and maintenance) and clear concerns to address (upfront costs, range, and convenience) when making a pitch for EVs to the public. Democrats and Republicans generally share this same set of rationales for and against buying EVs, with the notable exception that Democrats are far more likely to care about the climate and environmental benefits of EVs.
However, research also shows time and time again that Republicans do not view EVs from the perspective of rational consumers. EV ownership has become a cultural signifier, and most Republicans say that it signifies a culture that they aren’t a part of.
This calls for EV advocates to think about EV messaging to conservatives as a way to ease cultural concerns, not just to relay facts. It’s important for Republicans to learn about affordable EV models and the rapid increase in charging stations, but it is even more important for conservatives to see EVs as a choice that is compatible with their worldview.
We therefore encourage more research into culture-based appeals for EVs that resonate with conservatives, such as framing EVs around U.S. energy independence, reviving the U.S. manufacturing sector, and restoring the U.S. auto industry to its former glory.
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