Environmental Polling Roundup – January 13, 2023
HEADLINES
- Data for Progress – Most voters recognize that there’s a connection between natural disasters and climate change, but Democrats and Republicans disagree on the topic; voters are not familiar with racial disparities in climate impacts (Article, Topline)
- CBS News + YouGov – Americans overwhelmingly say that they want their member of Congress to support efforts to fight climate change (Article, including topline)
- [New York State] Data for Progress – Most New York State voters support the end of gas in new construction projects (Article, Topline)
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- There’s public pressure on the new Congress to take climate change seriously. Polls released by both Data for Progress and CBS News/YouGov this week confirm that voters want more congressional action to help combat climate change. Data for Progress finds that more than three in five voters say it’s important for Congress to address the issue, while CBS News and YouGov find that just over seven in ten Americans want their own representative in Congress to support efforts to fight climate change.
- Americans have very little understanding about the racial disparities in climate impacts. Environmental justice is one of the most under-polled topics in the environmental policy sphere, but all the polling we’ve seen so far indicates that the public needs much more education to understand how different communities are disparately impacted by climate change and environmental problems. Newly released national polling by Data for Progress underlines this lack of public understanding, as they find that only about two in five voters believe that communities of color are more adversely affected by climate change.
- Democratic and Republican partisans don’t even agree about the weather. Data for Progress and CBS News/YouGov both find wide gaps in Democrats’ and Republicans’ beliefs about the frequency of extreme weather events, adding to the growing body of evidence that partisan audiences have come to interpret “extreme weather” and “natural disasters” as proxies for climate change. Data for Progress finds that the overwhelming majority of Democrats and less than half of Republicans acknowledge that natural disasters are becoming more frequent, while CBS News and YouGov find that Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say that their own local area has experienced more extreme weather in recent years.
GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT
- [Climate Change + Congress] 71% of Americans want their representative in Congress to support efforts to fight climate change [CBS News + YouGov]
- [Climate Change + Extreme Weather] 67% of Americans who report that their area has experienced more extreme weather in recent years say that the experience has made them more concerned about climate change [CBS News + YouGov]
- [Climate Change + Health] 62% of voters agree that climate change presents a threat to Americans’ health [Data for Progress]
- [Climate Change] 60% of voters agree that climate change is a “crisis” [Data for Progress]
- [Extreme Weather] 60% of voters recognize that the frequency of natural disasters has increased in recent years [Data for Progress]
- [Climate Change + Extreme Weather] 59% of voters recognize that there is a “very” or “somewhat” strong relationship between natural disasters and climate change [Data for Progress]
- [Climate Change + Elections] 57% of voters say that a commitment to tackling climate change is “very” or “somewhat” important in determining their support for a presidential candidate [Data for Progress]
- [Climate Change + Elections] 55% of voters say that a commitment to tackling climate change is “very” or “somewhat” important in determining their support for a state or local candidate [Data for Progress]
- [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]
- [New York State] 66% of New York State voters support ending gas in new construction projects [Data for Progress]
FULL ROUNDUP
Data for Progress
Most voters recognize that there’s a connection between natural disasters and climate change, but Democrats and Republicans disagree on the topic; voters are not familiar with racial disparities in climate impacts (Article, Topline)
This newly released poll from Data for Progress covers a variety of climate-related topics, including the links between climate change and natural disasters, other climate impacts, climate justice, and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The poll finds that roughly three-fifths of voters are at least “somewhat” concerned about climate change (61%), recognize that natural disasters have become more frequent in recent years (60%), and acknowledge that there is at least a “somewhat” strong relationship between natural disasters and climate change (59%).
As in nearly all climate-related polling, however, partisanship significantly shapes attitudes on each of these questions. Compared to Republican voters, Data for Progress finds that Democratic voters are 54 points more likely to say that they’re at least “somewhat” concerned about climate change (88% to 34%), 30 points more likely to say that natural disasters are becoming more frequent (75% to 45%), and 53 points more likely to recognize that there is at least a “somewhat” strong relationship between natural disasters and climate change (84% to 31%).
In other words, not only are Republican partisans less convinced that climate change is a factor behind the increasing frequency of extreme weather, they’re not convinced that extreme weather is becoming more frequent in the first place.
Data for Progress also asked about other ways that climate change is impacting the country, and found that most Americans (62%) believe that climate change presents a threat to Americans’ health. The public is more divided on whether climate change is a threat to national security, with 45% saying that it presents a threat to national security and 47% saying that it doesn’t.
These findings are consistent with a lot of other climate polling, as health problems regularly rank among the most salient negative impacts of climate change.
The poll also reveals that voters have limited understanding of the disparities in climate impacts, whether by income or by race. Just under half of voters (49%) believe that low-income communities are more adversely affected by climate change, and only two in five (40%) believe that communities with majority people of color are more adversely affected by climate change.
When it comes to addressing the climate crisis, voters want elected officials at all levels to address climate change but feel most strongly about the importance of climate action at the federal level. Below are the percentages of voters who say that it’s at least “somewhat” important for officials at different levels of government to address climate change, along with the percentages who say that it’s “very” important for each to address the issue:
- Congress – 62% say it’s important that they address climate change, including 43% who say it’s “very” important
- President Biden – 60% important, including 43% who say it’s “very” important
- Your governor – 60% important, including 37% who say it’s “very” important
- Your state legislature – 60% important, including 35% who say it’s “very” important
- Your local government – 58% important, including 34% who say it’s “very” important
At the individual level, the poll finds that large numbers of voters are willing to take climate-friendly actions for their households. Renewable home energy is especially appealing, with the majority of voters (59%) saying that they would consider switching to renewable energy in their home. Voters are more divided on the idea of purchasing an electric vehicle (45% would consider / 46% would not consider).
IRA incentives appear to drive up interest in each of these actions for sizeable segments of the population, as 44% of voters say that learning about the IRA’s Residential Clean Energy Tax Credit makes them at least “somewhat” motivated to switch to renewable energy and 39% of voters say that learning about the IRA’s EV tax credits makes them at least “somewhat” motivated to purchase an electric vehicle.
CBS News + YouGov
Americans overwhelmingly say that they want their member of Congress to support efforts to fight climate change (Article, including topline)
This new national polling from CBS News and YouGov confirms several of the findings from the Data for Progress poll above, including the strong appetite for congressional action on climate change and the partisan divide in perceptions about the weather.
CBS News and YouGov find that 71% of Americans would prefer that their representative in Congress support efforts to fight climate change, while just 29% want their representative to oppose efforts to fight climate change.
And while there’s a considerable partisan gap here, it’s not a matter of Democrats wanting pro-climate representatives and Republicans wanting representatives who oppose climate action.
Rather, self-identified Democrats nearly unanimously want their members of Congress to support efforts to fight climate change (90%) and Republicans are split roughly down the middle (47% want their representative to support efforts to fight climate change / 53% want their representative to oppose efforts to fight climate change). Additionally, the clear majority of Republicans under the age of 50 (61%) say that they want their representative to support climate action.
The poll also finds that just under half of Americans (47%) say that their local area has experienced more extreme weather events in recent years, including 60% of Democrats but just 37% of Republicans.
Further, Democrats and independents are much more likely than Republicans to say that experiences with extreme weather have impacted their concerns about climate change. Among those who say that their area has experienced more frequent extreme weather, Democrats (76%) and independents (75%) overwhelmingly say that the experience made them more concerned about climate change but only about two in five Republicans (41%) say that their experiences with extreme weather increased their concerns about climate change.
Other polling by Pew last year suggested more acceptance of climate change among Republicans who have personally experienced extreme weather events, with most Republicans who had experienced extreme weather acknowledging climate change as a contributing factor.
We’d definitely encourage much more research – both quantitative and qualitative – to understand what the public does and doesn’t intuitively grasp about the links between climate change and extreme weather, what misconceptions exist that prevent people from relating the two issues, and how to concisely and persuasively communicate about the connection between climate change and extreme weather.
[New York State] Data for Progress
Most New York State voters support the end of gas in new construction projects (Article, Topline)
We’ve seen a lot of indications this week that residential gas use could be the next major front in the debate over the clean energy transition. While this new Data for Progress polling in New York State doesn’t touch on gas stoves specifically, it encouragingly finds broad support for the idea of ending gas hookups in new construction.
When prompted with the explanation below, roughly two-thirds of New Yorkers support a proposal to end gas in new construction projects (66% support / 25% oppose).
“Some New York State lawmakers have proposed ending gas in new construction projects. This means that newly constructed residential and commercial buildings would not use gas boilers or furnaces. Instead, new buildings would be heated and cooled by energy-efficient heat pumps. In effect, no fossil fuels would be used in new buildings.”
The poll finds that concerns about both climate change and energy prices in the state are widespread and intense. Nearly three-quarters of New York State voters say they’re at least “somewhat” concerned about climate change, including 50% who are “very concerned” about the problem. Meanwhile, 85% say they’re at least “somewhat” concerned about the cost of their home energy bills, including 55% who are “very concerned” about their home energy costs.
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