Environmental Polling Roundup – March 6, 2026
Headlines
[Battleground Congressional Districts] Navigator – Voters in battleground districts disapprove of clean energy cuts and feel negatively about utility companies [Website, Deck, Topline]
[Pennsylvania] NRDC – Pennsylvania voters prefer to use clean energy rather than gas plants to meet growing energy demand [Release]
Good Data Points to Highlight
[Battleground Districts + Clean Energy] By a 15-point margin (39% favorable / 54% unfavorable), voters in battleground U.S. House districts feel more negatively than positively about Trump and Republicans in Congress limiting production of clean energy [Navigator]
[Battleground Districts + Clean Energy] Half of voters in battleground U.S. House districts (51%) believe that actions by Trump and Republicans in Congress to limit production of clean energy caused costs to go up, compared to just 22% who believed this action caused costs to go down [Navigator]
[Clean Energy + Elections] Nearly seven in ten voters (69%) say that they would not support a candidate who “shut down clean energy projects, making less energy available and causing utility prices to go up” [Navigator]
Full Roundup
[Battleground Congressional Districts] Navigator – Voters in battleground districts disapprove of clean energy cuts and feel negatively about utility companies [Website, Deck, Topline]
More battleground voters report a rise in their utility costs than any other household expense. More than four in ten voters (84%) in competitive U.S. House districts say that their utility costs have gone up in the past year, including nearly half (48%) who say that their utility costs have risen “a lot.” Voters in these districts are more likely to say that utility costs are increasing than to say that the costs of health care (80%), groceries (77%), housing (69%), taxes (63%), or child care (33%) are rising.
In terms of intensity, voters are still relatively more likely to say that the costs of groceries (58%) and health care (57%) have gone up “a lot” than the cost of utilities (48%).
Voters are continuing to direct their anger about energy prices more at utility companies and energy-intensive industries than political actors. When asked to choose the two entities or underlying factors that they hold most responsible for rising utility costs, voters in competitive U.S. House districts are most likely to blame utility companies and industries like data centers and A.I. that use up a lot of energy:
- Utility companies – Chosen by 37% as one of the two most responsible factors
- Industries that use a lot of energy, like data centers, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence – 33%
- The federal government – 27%
- State and local governments – 27%
- Not enough domestic production of energy – 23%
- Fossil fuel companies, like oil and gas – 19%
- Clean energy companies – 12%
- Changing weather patterns – 6%
As this list shows, few voters see clean energy as a major factor behind rising energy costs. This has been a consistent finding in polling about the topic, as voters continue to reject the argument that Biden-era “green energy mandates” are to blame for their bill increases.
Utility companies are underwater with battleground voters. Voters in these districts rate utility companies more negatively than positively by a 38-point margin (25% favorable / 63% unfavorable), further underscoring how much voters are turning against utilities amid the affordability crisis.
Voters in battleground districts strongly disapprove of cuts to clean energy. By a 15-point margin, battleground voters say that they feel more negatively than positively (39% favorable / 54% unfavorable) about the fact that Trump and Republicans in Congress “limited production of clean energy, like solar and wind, creating an energy shortage.”
Additionally, nearly half of battleground voters (49%) feel “very” unfavorably about this action.
This question was asked as part of a larger battery of economic and budgetary actions taken by Trump and Republicans in Congress, allowing us to compare how much each one troubles voters relative to other policies that have been enacted since Trump took office again. Cuts to clean energy rank in the middle of the list in terms of disapproval, while tax cuts for the rich and cuts to Medicaid funding stand out as particularly unpopular:
- Passed a tax bill that gives most of its benefits to billionaires and the ultra-wealthy – 67% unfavorable
- Cut funding for Medicaid – 63% unfavorable
- Cut taxes for big businesses and corporations – 59%
- Cut funding for food assistance programs, like SNAP – 57%
- Imposed tariffs on imported items from over 90 countries – 55%
- Limited production of clean energy, like solar and wind, creating an energy shortage – 54%
- Created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – 53%
- Ended tax credits for people who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace – 53%
- Cut taxes on overtime pay – 22%
- Cut taxes on tips – 20%
Battleground voters connect clean energy cuts with rising costs, though there is room to strengthen this association. Around half of voters say that the action by Trump and Republicans in Congress to limit production of clean energy made costs go up (51%), compared to 22% who say that the action caused costs to go down.
Meanwhile, around one in six (16%) say that limiting clean energy had no impact on costs and an additional 11% don’t know enough to say.
[Pennsylvania] NRDC – Pennsylvania voters prefer to use clean energy rather than gas plants to meet growing energy demand [Release]
Pennsylvania voters, like voters in other areas of the country, want to meet rising energy demand with clean energy rather than fossil fuels. Pulling from NRDC’s release:
“Pennsylvanians prefer new clean energy over new gas (i.e., fossil fuel) plants to meet growing energy demand (55 percent versus 38 percent statewide)… They say clean energy is more sustainable and effective at reducing pollution, improving health, and keeping bills lower. Views are more divided on reliability and speed to add capacity—but support for clean energy grows after they hear a balanced debate.”
These results are consistent with recent polling released by EDF Action, which found that voters in battleground states widely prefer new clean energy projects over new gas power plants. The EDF Action survey also found that voters believe clean energy to be better for people’s utility bills than gas, but are split on which energy source is more reliable and believe that new gas plants would bring electricity online more quickly.
Pennsylvanians support a range of policies to make utility bills more affordable. Pulling again from the release:
“Policy solutions test extremely well—and people believe these lower bills:
- Require data centers to pay for the extra electricity they need: 95 percent support; +78 net “positive impact on bills”
- Upgrade the grid with storage and transmission: 83 percent support; +53 net positive on bills
- Require tech companies to fund new clean energy to meet their demand: 81 percent support; +48 net positive on bills
- Offer efficiency incentives for households and businesses: 81 percent support; +50 net positive on bills
When these steps are combined into one clean energy affordability agenda, support reaches 70 percent statewide.”
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