Environmental Polling Roundup – July 24, 2026
Headlines
Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) + Data for Progress – Voters have widely positive attitudes about natural gas, with many incorrectly viewing it as a “clean” energy source; favorability toward gas drops sharply when voters are exposed to brief information that connects it to fracking [Website, Crosstabs]
Data for Progress – Two-thirds of voters recognize that heat waves are getting worse because of climate change, and bipartisan majorities support action to protect workers from extreme heat [Website, Crosstabs]
POLITICO – Americans of all political stripes have turned against data centers over the course of the year, though they retain the most backing from self-described “MAGA” Trump voters [Article]
The Economist + YouGov – Two in five Americans say that their local air quality was impacted by recent wildfires, and most believe that climate change is responsible [Topline, Crosstabs]
Key Takeaways
Voters continue to have some fundamental misconceptions about “natural” gas, but are open to new information about its harms. The Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) and Data for Progress find that majorities of voters across party lines have favorable attitudes about natural gas. This sentiment is underpinned by beliefs that gas is affordable and reliable, and half of voters also believe the claim that natural gas is a “clean” energy source.
Additionally, voters are about equally likely to say that they’ve heard positive things as to say that they’ve heard negative things about the impacts of natural gas on air and water quality and on public health.
More encouragingly, the survey finds that the popularity of natural gas declines quickly when voters learn basic information about it–including that it is a fossil fuel made of methane and other gases and that it is commonly produced through fracking. Voters are also inclined to believe new information about natural gas’s health and safety risks and about its price volatility.
As this data shows, voters are willing to hear out arguments about the downsides of natural gas–but need to be exposed to much more messaging like this in order to effectively combat the industry’s branding of natural gas as safe and clean.
Heat waves and wildfire smoke are both particularly salient and personal examples of the impacts of climate change. One of the key challenges for climate advocacy is that many Americans see it as a future problem, rather than as a here-and-now priority. Yale and GMU recently found, for example, that around two-thirds of Americans expect global warming to harm future generations but less than half expect it to harm them personally.
Salient climate impacts have the potential to change that, and research consistently shows that the public perceives a clearer link between climate change and hot and dry weather events than with other types of extreme weather. New polling by Data for Progress, for example, finds that large majorities of voters believe that heat waves and wildfires are being worsened by climate change. Extreme heat is also the type of extreme weather that Americans are by far the most likely to report personal experience with.
Recent air quality impacts from the Canadian wildfires also stand out for how widespread they were: The Economist and YouGov found that four in ten Americans over the weekend reported that the air quality in their area was being affected.
Advocates should continue to drive home the connections between climate change and extreme heat and wildfires, as these connections are both relatively intuitive to Americans and increasingly relevant to their own lives.
Full Roundup
Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) + Data for Progress – Voters have widely positive attitudes about natural gas, with many incorrectly viewing it as a “clean” energy source; favorability toward gas drops sharply when voters are exposed to brief information that connects it to fracking [Website, Crosstabs]
Voters have widely positive attitudes about natural gas. Around two-thirds of voters (68%) say that they feel favorably about natural gas, compared to just one in five (21%) with unfavorable attitudes about it.
Large majorities of Democrats (63% favorable / 24% unfavorable), independents (64% favorable / 26% unfavorable), and Republicans (74% favorable / 15% unfavorable) all have positive impressions of natural gas.
Many voters incorrectly view natural gas as “clean” energy. When asked to select clean energy sources from a list, voters widely recognize that solar and wind fit the definition but around one-third (32%) incorrectly associate natural gas with the term. Voters are much more likely to erroneously label natural gas as “clean energy” than other fossil fuels such as oil or coal. This misconception of “natural gas” does not apply to “methane gas,” which only 5% believe is a clean energy source.
Below are the percentages who associate different energy sources with the term “clean energy”:
- Solar – 70%
- Wind – 69%
- Hydroelectricity – 43%
- Natural gas – 32%
- Geothermal – 27%
- Nuclear – 20%
- Fossil fuel energy – 11%
- Coal – 7%
- Oil – 5%
- Methane gas – 5%
- Don’t know – 4%
While Republicans (39%) are the most likely to label natural gas as “clean energy,” around one-quarter of Democrats (27%) make the same mistaken association.
Voters aren’t hearing many negative things about natural gas. Voters are about equally likely to say that they’ve heard “mostly positive” as “mostly negative” things about natural gas in terms of its impacts on public health (19% mostly positive / 21% mostly negative) and air and water quality (23% mostly positive / 23% mostly negative).
Additionally, fewer than two in five voters (36%) say that they’ve heard “mostly negative” things about the impacts of natural gas on climate change.
Brief information about natural gas quickly deflates its favorability. While voters begin with overwhelmingly positive impressions of natural gas (68% favorable / 21% unfavorable), voters report much more mixed opinions of it (50% favorable / 35% unfavorable) after reading the following information that explains what it is made up of and how it is extracted:
“Natural gas is a non-renewable fossil fuel made of methane and other gases. It is commonly used for heating, cooking, and generating electricity. In the U.S., natural gas producers typically drill into underground rock formations to extract gas, also known as fracking.”
Following this description, Democrats are split in their opinions of natural gas (42% favorable / 43% unfavorable) and independents view it more negatively than positively (36% favorable / 48% unfavorable). However, natural gas retains its popularity among Republicans (67% favorable / 20% unfavorable).
Voters tend to believe negative statements about natural gas when they see them. When voters were asked to rate the veracity of different claims about natural gas, most believe it is true that gas is often produced through damaging fracking, that its prices are volatile, and that it poses health and safety risks:
- Its prices can be unpredictable, leading to higher energy costs over time, especially during times of extreme cold or heat, or disruptions to international markets like the Iran War (65% true / 18% false)
- It can leak into the air when it is produced, transported in pipelines, and even from the pipes and appliances in your home, posing health and safety risks (64% true / 19% false)
- It is often produced in the U.S. through fracking, which causes significant damage to land, water sources, and wildlife (63% true / 20% false)
However, voters are also more likely to rate the claim that natural gas is a “clean energy source” as true (50%) than false (33%). While Republicans (61% true / 23% false) are the most likely to believe the claim that natural gas is clean, two in five Democrats also incorrectly believe the statement (43% true / 40% false).
Additionally, voters are split (41% true / 38% false) over the claim that natural gas is a “dirty energy source that worsens climate change.” Just over half of Democrats (54% true / 23% false) and less than one-third of Republicans (28% true / 54% false) believe this to be true.
Majorities of voters also believe several positive statements about natural gas, including that it provides affordable energy for households and businesses (68% true / 16% false), that it is reliable and available when other energy sources are not (64% true / 17% false), and that it is safe for public health when produced and used as intended (63% true / 19% false).
The popularity of natural gas is boosted by claims that it is affordable, clean, and reliable. Counternarratives should emphasize its connections to fracking and public health harms and its price volatility. When voters are asked to choose the statements that make them “more likely to approve” of natural gas, they gravitate toward assertions that natural gas is affordable, clean, and reliable:
- It provides affordable energy for households and businesses – 35% choose this as one of the two statements most likely to increase their approval
- It is a clean energy source – 32%
- It is reliable and available when other energy sources are not – 31%
- It is safe for public health when produced and used as intended – 23%
- It provides more than one-third of the country’s energy – 18%
- Its extraction, production, and transport have minimal environmental impacts – 14%
Meanwhile, voters most frequently choose statements about fracking, price volatility, and public health harms when asked to pick the statements that make them most likely to disapprove of natural gas:
- It is often produced in the U.S. through fracking, which causes significant damage to land, water sources, and wildlife – 39% choose this as one of the two statements most likely to increase their disapproval
- Its prices can be unpredictable, leading to higher energy costs over time, especially during times of extreme cold or heat, or disruptions to international markets like the Iran War – 30%
- It can leak into the air when it is produced, transported in pipelines, and even in the pipes and appliances in my home, posing health and safety risks – 30%
- It is a nonrenewable fossil fuel, meaning once it is used up, it cannot be replaced – 23%
- It is a dirty energy source that worsens climate change – 18%
The connection to fracking stands out as the clearest negative aspect about natural gas to Democrats (chosen by 47%) and independents (chosen by 41%). Among Republicans, the statements about fracking (chosen by 29%) and price volatility (chosen by 31%) rate as the most likely to increase disapproval.
Interestingly, Democrats are twice as likely to choose the statement linking natural gas to fracking (47%) as the statement linking it to climate change (23%) when asked to choose the statements that most increase their disapproval.
Data for Progress – Two-thirds of voters recognize that heat waves are getting worse because of climate change, and bipartisan majorities support action to protect workers from extreme heat [Website, Crosstabs]
Most voters recognize that extreme weather is becoming more frequent, despite partisan gaps. Around three in five voters (61%) say that the number of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, flash floods, droughts, or heat waves has increased over the past five years, while around three in ten (29%) say that the frequency of these events has stayed the same and only 5% believe that extreme weather events have become less frequent.
Majorities of Democrats (72%) and independents (63%) recognize that extreme weather is becoming more frequent, though less than half of Republicans (46%) concur.
Voters link heat waves and other types of extreme weather to climate change. When asked whether various weather events are being “worsened by climate change,” voters most easily recognize the link between climate change and heat waves. Majorities also say that climate change is contributing to other types of extreme weather, particularly hot and dry weather events:
- Heat waves – 67% believe that they are being worsened by climate change
- Wildfires – 64%
- Droughts – 63%
- Flooding and flash flooding – 62%
- Severe thunderstorms and hail storms – 59%
- Hurricanes – 59%
Majorities of Democrats and independents, but less than half of Republicans, say that climate change is worsening each of these types of weather events.
Voters across the political spectrum strongly support legislation to protect workers from extreme heat. When told that lawmakers in their state are “considering a policy that requires employers to provide drinking water, rest breaks, air conditioning or shade, and similar cooling support to employees working in extreme heat (hotter than 90°F),” nearly nine in ten voters (88%) support the idea and 71% support it “strongly.”
This policy to protect workers from extreme heat earns widespread and intense support from Democrats (89% support, 78% strongly), independents (86% support, 71% strongly), and Republicans (89% support, 63% strongly).
POLITICO – Americans of all political stripes have turned against data centers over the course of the year, though they retain the most backing from self-described “MAGA” Trump voters [Article]
Opposition to local data centers has increased sharply since the start of the year. POLITICO finds that Americans are now 17 points more likely to support than oppose a new data center being built within three miles of where they live (24% support / 41% oppose). This represents a 26-point shift in net support since a previous POLITICO poll in January, when Americans were nine points more likely to support than oppose such a project (37% support / 28% oppose).
Opposition to data centers has increased among all political segments. While Democratic-leaning voters have turned against data centers the most, POLITICO finds substantial shifts against data centers among both 2024 Harris voters and 2024 Trump voters.
2024 Harris voters now oppose local data centers by a 31-point margin (22% support / 53% oppose), compared to a three-point margin of support in January (36% support / 33% oppose). And 2024 Trump voters are now just one point more likely to support than oppose a local data center (34% support / 33% oppose), compared to a 19-point margin of support in January (45% support / 26% oppose).
Data centers have created a sustained rift between “MAGA” and non-MAGA Trump voters. 2024 Trump voters who self-identify with the “MAGA” label are 14 points more likely to support than oppose a local data center (43% support / 29% oppose), while non-MAGA Trump voters oppose local data centers by a 14-point margin (26% support / 40% oppose).
Among both of these segments, POLITICO finds that support for data centers has dropped by 12 points since January while opposition has risen by 8 points–meaning that the gap between MAGA and non-MAGA Trump voters on the issue is just as wide now as it was in January.
The Economist + YouGov – Two in five Americans say that their local air quality was impacted by recent wildfires, and most believe that climate change is responsible [Topline, Crosstabs]
Two in five Americans say that their local air quality was impacted by recent wildfires. In this survey that was fielded over the weekend, as wildfire smoke drifted down from Canada to much of the U.S., The Economist and YouGov found that 41% of Americans reported that the air quality in their areas was being affected.
While partisans tend to differ in their self-reporting of extreme weather experiences, nearly equal percentages of Democrats (42%), independents (39%), and Republicans (41%) said that their area was impacted by the wildfires.
Most Americans believe that climate change is at least partially responsible for the wildfires. Nearly two-thirds of Americans (66%) say that climate change is at least “somewhat” responsible for the extent of recent wildfires. This includes nearly nine in ten Democrats (87%), the majority of independents (62%), and around half of Republicans (48%).
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