Environmental Polling Roundup – March 24, 2023
HEADLINES
Data for Progress – Voters support the core climate and environmental provisions in President Biden’s proposed budget (Article, Crosstabs)
Climate Power – Voters disagree with the substance of Congressional Republicans’ H.R. 1 bill, as the public wants less reliance on fossil fuels and a faster transition to clean energy; oil company CEOs and “MAGA Republicans” are widely distrusted on energy issues (Memo)
Navigator – Voters overwhelmingly support stronger railroad oversight in the wake of the East Palestine disaster; voters are more likely to attribute higher gas prices to corporate greed than to environmental regulations (Release, Deck, Topline)
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Voters want climate and environmental investments to remain in Biden’s budget. Polling on President Biden’s proposed budget, including new polling released this week from Data for Progress, has consistently found broad support for the budget’s core climate and environmental provisions – especially investments in clean energy.
- Strengthening American manufacturing is a compelling angle of President Biden’s clean energy plans. Data for Progress’s polling on Biden’s budget finds that investments in American manufacturing of clean energy technologies are the most popular budget provision related to climate and the environment, and the only provision that earns more support than opposition from Republicans. Boosting American manufacturing has consistently ranked as a top-testing rationale for Biden’s clean energy plans, and it’s particularly important to drive home the benefits of clean energy for U.S. energy independence and blue-collar workers when communicating to more conservative audiences.
- We should be making oil company CEOs the villains in our narratives whenever possible. New polling by Climate Power finds that oil company CEOs rank among the very least trusted authorities on energy issues, and polling by Navigator finds that voters continue to blame high gas prices more on corporate price gouging than on domestic energy policy. Leaning in to Americans’ antipathy toward oil company CEOs helps to make our communications sharper, and oil company CEOs accordingly should be front and center in messaging against H.R. 1.
GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT
- [Rail Safety] 77% of voters support legislation to provide more oversight into railroad carriers and improve industry safety regulations, including majorities of Democrats, independents, and Republicans [Navigator]
- [Clean Energy] 75% of voters say that it’s important for the United States to increase its use of clean and renewable energy sources like wind power and solar energy, including majorities of Democrats, independents, and Republicans [Climate Power]
- [Fossil Fuels] 69% of voters say that it’s important for the United States to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas [Climate Power]
- [Clean Energy Transition] 64% of voters say that we should be speeding up the transition to using more clean and renewable energy sources [Climate Power]
- [Clean Energy / White House Budget] 60% of voters say that President Biden’s proposed investments in American manufacturing of clean energy technologies should remain in the budget, while just 25% want to cut these investments [Data for Progress]
- [Clean Energy / White House Budget] 59% of voters say that President Biden’s proposed investments to reduce energy costs by investing in clean energy and weatherization should remain in the budget, while just 27% want to cut these investments [Data for Progress]
- [Pollution / White House Budget] 56% of voters say that President Biden’s proposed investments to cut plastic and air pollution (especially in at-risk communities) should remain in the budget, while just 28% want to cut these investments [Data for Progress]
- [Clean Energy / White House Budget] 55% of voters say that President Biden’s proposed investments in clean energy infrastructure in rural communities should remain in the budget, while just 29% want to cut these investments [Data for Progress]
- [Issue Priority] More Americans say that climate/environment is the number one “most important issue” for them than any other issue besides inflation/prices, health care, and the economy/jobs [The Economist + YouGov]
FULL ROUNDUP
Data for Progress – Voters support the core climate and environmental provisions in President Biden’s proposed budget (Article, Crosstabs)
New polling from Data for Progress finds that voters are more likely to support than oppose each of the core climate and environmental components of President Biden’s budget proposal, confirming what Morning Consult found last week about the broad popularity of the budget’s climate and clean energy provisions.
When voters are asked whether they’d prefer to keep or cut specific items from the budget, investments in clean energy and cutting plastic and air pollution are especially popular. Here is the full list of climate/environmental items tested in the survey, ranked by the percentages of voters who want to keep each item in the budget:
- Investing in American manufacturing of clean energy technologies (60% keep / 25% cut)
- Cutting energy costs for American families by investing in clean energy and weatherization (59% keep / 27% cut)
- Funding efforts to cut plastic and air pollution, especially in at-risk communities (56% keep / 28% cut)
- Investing in clean energy infrastructure in rural communities (55% keep / 29% cut)
- Investing in climate-friendly transportation, including passenger rail and electric vehicles (49% keep / 35% cut)
- Investing in the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to advance clean energy research (48% keep / 30% cut)
Partisanship naturally drives attitudes around these items in Biden’s proposed budget: at least 70% of Democrats say that they want to keep each item, while no items earn outright majority support from Republicans.
However, Republican voters are more amenable to certain climate/environmental provisions than others, and more Republicans say that they want to keep investments in American manufacturing of clean energy technologies in Biden’s budget (44%) than cut them (39%).
Last year, we saw messages and policies focused on U.S. manufacturing test very well in polling about the Inflation Reduction Act from LCV + Climate Power, Climate Power + Data for Progress, and POLITICO + Morning Consult.
This new Data for Progress polling continues that trend, showing again that boosting American manufacturing is a compelling angle for President Biden’s clean energy plans – especially when communicating to more conservative audiences.
Climate Power – Voters disagree with the substance of Congressional Republicans’ H.R. 1 bill, as the public wants less reliance on fossil fuels and a faster transition to clean energy; oil company CEOs and “MAGA Republicans” are widely distrusted on energy issues (Memo)
New polling from Climate Power demonstrates that Congressional Republicans’ H.R. 1 energy bill, which seeks to undermine the clean energy transition both by incentivizing fossil fuel extraction and by rolling back clean energy investments, goes against the public’s priorities.
Climate Power finds that voters encourage the clean energy transition and want to see it sped up, not halted or reversed:
- 75% of voters say it’s important for the United States to increase its use of clean and renewable energy sources like wind power and solar energy, including 55% who say it’s “very” important
- 69% of voters say it’s important for the United States to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas, including 46% who say it’s “very” important
- 64% of voters say that we should be speeding up the transition to using more clean and renewable energy sources
We should note that not everything in H.R. 1 is necessarily toxic from a public opinion standpoint if we let the bill’s supporters define it on their preferred terms. Polls have shown that the ideas of “permitting reform” and “streamlining” energy projects have inherent appeal to voters, and there’s also a strong public appetite for an “all-of-the-above” domestic energy approach that keeps some fossil fuels in the mix for a period of time.
This makes it all the more important to counter opposition talking points that try to paint H.R. 1 as a common-sense solution to the country’s energy needs. The public needs to understand that the bill is:
- A threat to core environmental safeguards that protect our air and water from toxic pollution
- A gift to oil company CEOs, who are already reaping record profits, at the expense of everyday Americans, and
- A major step backward in the transition to cleaner, more affordable energy
Oil company executives’ central role in pushing H.R. 1 is, in itself, a compelling argument against the package. Climate Power finds that 64% of voters don’t trust oil company CEOs on energy issues, making them one of the least trusted voices on energy policy. The majority of voters (59%) also say that they distrust “MAGA Republicans” on energy issues.
Navigator – Voters overwhelmingly support stronger railroad oversight in the wake of the East Palestine disaster; voters are more likely to attribute higher gas prices to corporate greed than to environmental regulations (Release, Deck, Topline)
Consistent with previous polling we’ve seen on the East Palestine train derailment, Navigator finds that voters widely view the incident as a failure by Norfolk Southern and overwhelmingly support new policies to prevent similar disasters in the future.
When asked to choose who is most at fault for the train derailment from a list of possible causes, Navigator finds that voters are most likely to pin the blame on Norfolk Southern:
- 54% blame Norfolk Southern for “being too greedy and taking shortcuts to save themselves money, instead of investing in their trains and workers to prevent this kind of disaster”
- 29% blame Republicans in Congress for “killing a bill that would have required trains to have brakes that would have presented this disaster”
- 21% blame the Biden administration for “not implementing regulations that would have presented this disaster”
- 11% blame the rail strike for “creating a worker shortage on America’s trains”
As we’ve seen in other polls, both Democrats and Republicans are more likely to blame Norfolk Southern than they are to blame their political adversaries – providing further evidence that the desire to hold corporate polluters accountable is one of the few environmental priorities that transcends partisanship.
And in the wake of the East Palestine disaster, Navigator finds overwhelming support for legislation that has been proposed to prevent similar incidents in the future. Over three-quarters of voters (77% support / 9% oppose) say that they support a bipartisan bill to provide more oversight into railroad carriers and improve industry safety regulations, including majorities of Democrats (86%), independents (63%), and Republicans (73%).
The poll finds more ire directed at corporate polluters over gas prices, especially after voters learn about the record profits that oil companies have posted in the last year.
By a 14-point margin, voters are more likely to say that “corporations charging excessively high prices and price gouging” (49%) is the cause of high gas prices than “domestic policies, like environmental regulations, that are driving up costs” (35%).
In a split-sample experiment, half of poll respondents saw a statement about oil companies’ record profits before they were asked what they blame more for high gas prices. Those who were informed about oil companies’ record profits were 19 points more likely to blame high gas prices on corporations’ excessively high prices and price gouging (54%) than on domestic policies like environmental regulations (35%).
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