Environmental Polling Roundup – June 30, 2023
HEADLINES
Pew – Americans overwhelmingly agree that the country should prioritize clean energy sources over fossil fuels; Americans expect the clean energy transition to have a positive impact on jobs, but are more pessimistic about the impact on consumer costs [Website, Full Report, Topline]
Yale + GMU – Voters across party lines support investments in clean energy and energy efficiency, and majorities support clean energy projects like solar and wind farms in their own area; clean energy remains less politically polarizing than climate change [Website, Full Report]
[Battleground States] LCV + Climate Power – Climate and the environment are clear strengths for President Biden over potential opponents in the 2024 general election, and most voters say that they are more likely to support Biden when they hear about his specific climate-related stances and accomplishments [Deck, Memo]
[AZ, GA, & WI] Climate Power – There continues to be clear opportunity to boost support for clean energy in key states, with battleground voters shifting in favor of the Biden administration’s clean energy plan in response to positive messaging [AZ Deck, GA Deck, WI Deck]
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Clean energy is a winning issue across the electorate. Pew finds that solar and wind are the most popular energy sources with the American public, and majorities of Republicans continue to support expanding solar and wind energy despite a drop in Republican support for clean energy since President Biden took office. Additionally, Yale and George Mason find that majorities of voters across party lines support investments in renewable energy research, renewable energy jobs programs, and tax rebates for energy efficiency, rooftop solar, and electric appliances.
- Consumer costs are the key front in the debate over the clean energy transition. Pew finds that Americans are inclined to believe that the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy will have a positive impact in important areas such as jobs, air quality, and water quality. However, more Americans believe that the transition will have a negative than positive impact on the prices that they pay for energy and everyday goods. And in polls of battleground states, Climate Power continues to find that voters are pessimistic about the short-term impacts of the clean energy transition on consumer costs. Convincing the public that expanding clean energy will save their household money in the short term is critical for easing American’ biggest source of hesitation about the transition.
- President Biden is well positioned to go on offense with his climate and clean energy record. In the first major poll we’ve seen about climate and clean energy as issues in the 2024 presidential election, Climate Power finds that battleground voters trust President Biden over Republican opposition by wide margins on climate change, clean energy, and the environment. This is consistent with what we saw in polling on the 2022 midterms, when climate change and the environment consistently ranked alongside abortion rights as Democrats’ biggest generic issue advantages. Additionally, Climate Power finds that there is opportunity to increase Biden’s standing by providing voters with basic information about his stances and accomplishments on climate-related issues.
GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT
- [Clean Energy] By a greater than two-to-one margin, Americans say that the country should prioritize developing alternative energy sources (67%) over expanding fossil fuel production (32%) [Pew]
- [Clean Energy] 82% of Americans support expanding solar panel farms as a source of U.S. energy [Pew]
- [Clean Energy] 79% of voters support funding more research into renewable energy sources [Yale + GMU]
- [Clean Energy] 75% of Americans support expanding wind farms as a source of U.S. energy [Pew]
- [Clean Energy] 69% of voters support transitioning the U.S. economy (including electric utilities, transportation, buildings, and industry) from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050 [Yale + GMU]
- [Clean Energy] 66% of voters support requiring electric utilities to produce 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2035 [Yale + GMU]
- [Clean Energy] 66% of voters say that developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress [Yale + GMU]
- [Carbon Emissions] 74% of voters support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant [Yale + GMU]
- [Carbon Emissions] 68% of voters support requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a carbon tax and using the money to reduce other taxes [Yale + GMU]
- [Corporate Accountability] 70% of voters say that corporations and industry should do more to address global warming [Yale + GMU]
- [Climate Action] 54% of voters say that global warming should be a high or very high priority for Congress [Yale + GMU]
FULL ROUNDUP
Pew – Americans overwhelmingly agree that the country should prioritize clean energy sources over fossil fuels; Americans expect the clean energy transition to have a positive impact on jobs, but are more pessimistic about the impact on consumer costs [Website, Full Report, Topline]
Pew’s first major climate/energy report of the year, based on polling conducted in late May and early June, includes a lot of notable findings for advocates.
Americans widely agree that the country should prioritize clean energy sources over fossil fuels. By a greater than two-to-one margin, Americans say that the country should prioritize “developing alternative sources, such as wind, solar and hydrogen technology” (67%) over “expanding exploration and production of oil,
coal and natural gas” (32%).
These figures are unchanged from when Pew last asked this question in May 2022 (67% alternative sources / 32% fossil fuels), though the margin in favor of clean energy has dropped a bit since its high point in May 2020 (79% alternative sources / 20% fossil fuels) – largely because Republican support for clean energy has declined since President Biden took office.
Self-identified Republicans said that the country should prioritize alternative energy sources over fossil fuels by a 30-point margin in May 2020 (65% alternative sources / 35% fossil fuels). By April 2021, however, Republicans said that the country should prioritize fossil fuels by a double-digit margin (43% alternative sources / 56% fossil fuels). In this new survey, most Republicans continue to say that the country should prioritize fossil fuels (42% alternative sources / 58% fossil fuels).
Republicans continue to support wind and solar, despite their declining views of clean energy since President Biden took office. Solar and wind are the most popular energy sources in the country, as 82% of Americans support the U.S. building more solar panel farms and 75% support building more wind turbine farms.
Nuclear is the only other energy source that earns majority support in the survey (57% favor / 41% oppose), as Americans have mixed attitudes about offshore oil and gas drilling (47% favor / 50% oppose) and fracking (44% favor / 53% oppose). Americans are also mostly opposed to expanding coal mining (38% favor / 60% oppose).
Support for solar and wind extends to Republicans, with most self-identified Republicans saying that the country should expand both solar (70%) and wind (60%). This is despite sizable drops in support since President Biden took office: Republican support for expanding solar is down 14 points from 2020 (84%) and Republican support for expanding wind is down 15 points from 2020 (75%).
Americans believe that the clean energy transition will benefit the country in key ways, including creating energy jobs and improving air and water quality, but are more pessimistic about consumer costs. Americans are much more likely to say that shifting from fossil fuels to renewables will have a positive than negative impact on air and water quality (59% better / 11% worse) and on job opportunities in the energy sector (49% better / 25% worse).
However, more Americans expect negative than positive impacts on the prices that they pay to heat and cool their home (37% better / 42% worse), the reliability of the electrical grid (32% better / 38% worse), and the prices that they pay for everyday goods (25% better / 44% worse).
The public supports a range of climate solutions in addition to clean energy, including requiring oil and gas companies to seal methane gas leaks and taxing corporations for their carbon emissions. Pew finds large majority support for many climate-friendly policy proposals, including:
- Planting about a trillion trees to absorb carbon emissions (89% favor)
- Requiring oil and gas companies to seal methane gas leaks from oil wells (85%)
- Providing a tax credit to businesses for developing carbon capture or storage technology (76%)
- Taxing corporations based on their carbon emissions (70%)
- Requiring power plants to eliminate all carbon emissions by 2040 (61%)
Additionally, 50% or more of self-identified Republicans support each of these policies except for the proposal to eliminate power plant carbon emissions by 2040.
Americans are more divided on a proposal to phase out residential gas by requiring most new buildings to be run only on electricity with no gas lines (46% favor / 51% oppose).
Democrats and Republicans have very different priorities for climate policy, with Democrats prioritizing future generations and Republicans prioritizing economic factors. When asked to rate the importance of different factors in climate policy, Americans are most likely to say that protecting the environment for future generations (65%), keeping consumer costs low (60%), and increasing jobs and economic growth (57%) are “very important” factors for them.
These topline numbers obscure major partisan differences, however. Keeping consumer costs low is the top factor for Republicans (69% “very important”), followed by increasing jobs and economic growth (61%) and protecting the environment for future generations (48%).
Among Democrats, meanwhile, protecting the environment for future generations is far and away the most important factor (81% “very important”). Most Democrats also say that making sure proposals help lower-income communities (57%), increasing jobs and economic growth (53%), and keeping consumer costs low (51%) are “very important” factors for them.
Americans who have experienced extreme weather widely say that climate change contributed to it. The most common forms of extreme weather that Americans recall in their communities over the past year are long periods of unusually hot weather (45% experienced this), severe weather such as floods or intense storms (44%), and droughts or water shortages (33%). Relatively smaller percentages report direct experience with major wildfires (18%) or rising sea levels that erode beaches and shorelines (16%).
And for each of these types of extreme weather, half or more of Americans who experienced it believe that climate change contributed “a lot” to the event. Americans are particularly likely to link climate change to extreme heat, with three-fifths (60%) of those who experienced long periods of unusually hot weather saying that climate change contributed “a lot” to it.
The public has mixed attitudes about phasing out gas-powered vehicles, as Republicans are widely opposed to the idea. By a 59%-40% margin, more Americans oppose than support phasing out the production of new gasoline cars and trucks by 2035.
While the idea has majority backing from some key constituencies, including Democrats (64% favor) and younger Americans aged 18-29 (56%), lopsided opposition among Republicans (84% oppose) drags down the overall level of support for the proposal.
Communities of color report more personal experience with a range of environmental problems. Most Americans say that having too much garbage, waste, and landfills is at least a “moderate” problem in their local community (59%), and about half also say that the pollution of lakes, rivers, and streams (54%) and air pollution (51%) are at least “moderate” problems where they live.
These types of problems are particularly common in areas where Black and Hispanic Americans live. Around two-thirds of Black and Hispanic Americans say that air pollution (68% of Black Americans and 68% of Hispanic Americans) and having too much garbage, waste and landfills (67% of Black Americans and 69% of Hispanic Americans) are problems in their local community.
Majorities of Black and Hispanic Americans also say that the safety of drinking water (62% of Black Americans and 59% of Hispanic Americans) is at least a “moderate” problem where they live, compared to 43% of all Americans. A lack of green space and parks is another problem that Black (54%) and Hispanic Americans (53%) are more likely to experience than Americans overall (38%).
Yale + GMU – Voters across party lines support investments in clean energy and energy efficiency, and majorities support clean energy projects like solar and wind farms in their own area; clean energy remains less politically polarizing than climate change [Website, Full Report]
The latest report from Yale and George Mason’s long-running “Climate Change in the American Mind” study finds that, despite continued political polarization around climate change, voters across party lines support a range of climate-friendly proposals to boost clean energy and increase energy efficiency.
Support for climate change and clean energy as national priorities is stable. Roughly two-thirds of voters (66%) say that developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress and most (54%) also say that global warming should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress.
These figures have held steady since the previous wave of the study that was fielded in December 2022, when 65% said that clean energy should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress and 52% said that global warming should be a high or very high priority.
In the latest survey, nearly nine in ten self-identified Democrats say that clean energy (87%) and global warming (89%) should be high or very high priorities for the president and Congress. Republicans, meanwhile, are roughly twice as likely to say that developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority (40%) as to say that global warming should be a high or very high priority (21%).
Voters across party lines support investments in clean energy and energy efficiency. Yale and GMU find that large and bipartisan majorities support a range of climate-friendly energy policies, including:
- Funding more research into renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power (79% support, including 57% of Republicans)
- Providing tax rebates for people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels (76% support, including 54% of Republicans)
- Providing federal funding to make residential buildings in low-income communities more energy efficient (76% support, including 55% of Republicans)
- Developing a national program to train people from low-income communities and communities of color for new jobs in the renewable energy industry, such as wind and solar (75% support, including 52% of Republicans)
- Developing a national program to train people who work in the fossil fuel industry for new jobs in the renewable energy industry, such as wind and solar (75% support, including 52% of Republicans)
- Providing tax credits or rebates to encourage people to buy electric appliances, such as heat pumps and induction stoves, that run on electricity instead of oil or gas (71% support, including 51% of Republicans)
The following proposals also earn broad support from voters nationwide, though they don’t attract majority support from Republican voters:
- Regulating carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas, as a pollutant (74% support)
- Transitioning the U.S. economy – including electric utilities, transportation, buildings, and industry – from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050 (69%)
- Requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a carbon tax and using the money to reduce other taxes, such as income tax, by an equal amount (68%)
- Requiring electric utilities to produce 100% of their electricity from wind, solar, or other renewable energy sources by the year 2035 (66%)
Most voters support clean energy projects in their local areas. Majorities say that they support building solar farms (64%) and wind farms (57%) in their local area, and most also support building electric vehicle charging stations (56%) and high-voltage power lines to distribute clean energy (51%) in their communities.
Voters are less amenable to building nuclear power plants in their area (34% support).
Voters believe that corporations and industry have the greatest responsibility to act on climate. Majorities of voters say that each of the following people and groups should be doing more to address global warming:
- Corporations and industry (70% say they should be doing more)
- The U.S. Congress (63%)
- The Republican Party (62%)
- Citizens themselves (61%)
- Your local government officials (57%)
- Your governor (56%)
- The media (55%)
- The Democratic Party (55%)
- President Biden (54%)
Notably, less than half of voters (47%) say that they personally should be doing more to address global warming – the only person or group tested in the survey that most voters don’t agree should be doing more about the problem.
Corporations and industry are the only group that Republican voters are substantially more likely to say should be doing more about global warming than less (48% more / 27% less). The survey additionally finds that Republican voters are split on whether the Republican Party should be doing more or less about global warming (32% more / 31% less).
Climate-friendly policies at the local level, such as increasing public transportation options and funding for energy efficiency, are overwhelmingly popular. Voters, including large majorities of Republicans, support each of the following proposals for their local community:
- Increasing the availability of public transportation in your county (86% support, including 74% of Republicans)
- Providing funding to help homeowners make energy-efficiency improvements to their homes, such as replacing old, inefficient furnaces, water heaters, air conditioners, and insulation (85%, including 72% of Republicans)
- Constructing bike paths and installing bike lanes on city streets (79%, including 69% of Republicans)
[Battleground States] LCV + Climate Power – Climate and the environment are clear strengths for President Biden over potential opponents in the 2024 general election, and most voters say that they are more likely to support Biden when they hear about his specific climate-related stances and accomplishments [Deck, Memo]
Polling voters across nine battleground states (AZ, GA, MI, MN, NC, NH, NV, PA, & WI), LCV and Climate Power find that President Biden has a clear advantage over potential Republican opponents on climate-related issues.
When asked who they trust more between President Biden and a Republican, battleground voters trust Biden by a 19-point margin on climate change (49% Biden / 30% Republican), by a 15-point margin on clean energy (49% Biden / 34% Republican), and by a 10-point margin on the environment (47% Biden / 37% Republican).
Along with abortion rights (50% Biden / 34% Republican), climate and environmental issues provide Biden with his strongest issue advantages heading into the election. This mirrors what we saw in the 2022 election, when voters trusted Democrats over Republicans by wider margins on climate change, the environment, and abortion than on any other issues.
On other major issues such as Social Security and Medicare (46% Biden / 41% Republican) and holding down costs (41% Biden / 46% Republican), battleground voters tend to be more evenly divided in their preference between Biden and a Republican.
Additionally, battleground voters say that they are more likely to support President Biden for re-election when they see specific statements about his actions and positions on climate-related issues. Majorities say that each of the following statements make them more likely to support President Biden for re-election:
- When his clean energy plan is fully implemented, it will lower energy costs for the average family by $1,000 per year while cutting carbon pollution by 40% (56% more likely to support Biden)
- He stands up for the right of all Americans to have clean air and water (55% more likely)
- He recognizes our responsibility to pass on a healthy, sustainable planet to our children and grandchildren (55% more likely)
- He has taken action to protect our water, air, land, and health from corporate polluters (55% more likely)
- He has stood up against price gouging by the big oil CEOs (55% more likely)
- His clean energy plan has already created more than 142,000 new good-paying jobs in communities across the country by investing in American-made clean energy like solar and wind power, with many more jobs to come (54% more likely)
- He has taken strong action to address climate change before it is too late (51% more likely)
On the other side, the poll finds that Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis are vulnerable to messaging about their close ties to Big Oil and their histories of blocking commonsense measures to address climate change. When presented with a series of negative climate-related statements about Trump and DeSantis, battleground voters are most likely to choose the following two statements as the most concerning to them:
- “Both Trump and DeSantis have close financial ties to Big Oil and side with the oil industry against policies to protect consumers and the environment”
- “Both Trump and DeSantis deny the reality of climate change, and in office, they both fought to block commonsense measures to address climate change”
[AZ, GA, & WI] Climate Power – There continues to be clear opportunity to boost support for clean energy in key states, with battleground voters shifting in favor of the Biden administration’s clean energy plan in response to positive messaging [AZ Deck, GA Deck, WI Deck]
Climate Power has now released findings from their messaging research about the Biden administration’s clean energy plan in six battleground states, including the three states here as well as Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.
In Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin – as in all six battleground states surveyed – Climate Power finds that:
- Voters in battleground states have mixed attitudes about the Biden administration’s clean energy plan, and many are unable to give an opinion on it. Once they are exposed to positive messaging and proof points about the plan, however, they shift to supporting it by wide margins.
- Battleground voters respond particularly positively to messaging and proof points about how the plan will lower energy costs in their state (because of improved energy efficiency and increased use of clean energy), create new-good paying jobs in their state in a wide range of occupations (including construction workers and electricians), and improve their state’s electricity grid
- Voters in battleground states need more persuasion about the short-term cost savings from clean energy than the long-term cost savings, as they are more inclined to believe that expanding clean energy will save them money in the next 10+ years than in the next couple of years
Related Resources
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