Environmental Polling Roundup – May 12, 2023
HEADLINES
Gallup – Large majorities of Black and Hispanic Americans worry about the pollution of their drinking water (Article)
[CA] EDF Action – California voters, including those in swing congressional districts, understand that climate change impacts the weather and the state economy (Press Release, Memo)
[FL] Florida Atlantic University – Nine in ten Floridians recognize that climate change is happening, and most support making solar the state’s primary source of energy (Website, Press Release, Topline)
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Water contamination is the most salient environmental problem in the country, especially among Black and Hispanic Americans. Gallup’s recent polling finds that Americans are more concerned about the pollution of drinking water than they are about any other environmental problem, with concerns about drinking water especially high among Black and Hispanic Americans. These findings – that water pollution is the public’s biggest environmental concern and that people of color are particularly worried about it – are long-standing trends in Gallup’s polling. These trends pre-date the Flint water crisis and have also been durable in the years since Flint became a national story.
- Messaging about energy independence continues to resonate amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. EDF Action’s recent polling in California is the latest example we’ve seen of energy independence resonating as a rationale for climate action. Polls since the Ukraine invasion have shown that Americans understand how reliance on foreign energy makes us more vulnerable to price hikes and shocks that are out of our control, providing an opening for clean energy advocates to make a persuasive case for shifting to clean, domestic energy.
- Solar is a winning issue all over the country. Florida Atlantic University finds that Floridians overwhelmingly prefer solar as the primary energy source for the state’s electricity, while few want Florida to continue to rely on natural/methane gas. Polls at the national, regional, and state levels reliably show that solar is the most popular energy source in the country.
GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT
- [California] 61% of California voters say that climate change is either a “crisis” or serious problem, including 53% in swing CDs [EDF Action]
- [California] 60% of California voters say that climate change plays a major role in extreme weather events, including 53% in swing CDs [EDF Action]
- [Florida] 90% of Floridians recognize that climate change is happening, including 65% who say that climate change is caused largely by human activity [Florida Atlantic University]
- [Florida] 74% of Floridians say that climate change has them concerned about the well-being of future generations in Florida [Florida Atlantic University]
- [Florida] 71% of Floridians agree that the state government should do more to address the impacts of climate change [Florida Atlantic University]
- [Florida] 58% of Floridians choose solar when asked to choose the primary form of energy production they want Florida to support in the future, compared to just 10% who want to continue using gas as the state’s primary energy source [Florida Atlantic University]
FULL ROUNDUP
Gallup – Large majorities of Black and Hispanic Americans worry about the pollution of their drinking water (Article)
Gallup released polling a few weeks ago that showed that water pollution continues to be the public’s greatest environmental concern – 55% say they worry a “great deal” about drinking water pollution, compared to 38% who say they worry a “great deal” about air pollution. This new article provides some more context to that data.Gallup finds that Black and Hispanic Americans have particularly acute concerns about the safety of their drinking water, even when controlling for political partisanship, and that these elevated concerns about water pollution in Black and Hispanic communities pre-date the Flint water crisis.
Pulling from the new article, with emphasis added in bold:
“Over the past two decades, Gallup has consistently found that Americans worry more about pollution of drinking water than other environmental concerns. A closer look at the data reveals that Black and Hispanic Americans are much more likely than White Americans to have this concern.
In response to Gallup’s annual environmental polls from 2019 to 2023, 56% of Americans overall said they worry “a great deal” about pollution of drinking water. However, that sentiment was expressed by 76% of Black adults and 70% of Hispanic adults, compared with less than half (48%) of White adults.
Those gaps can partly be attributed to racial and ethnic differences in political party affiliation… However, racial gaps in concern about drinking-water pollution persist even within political parties. In the combined 2019-2023 data, for example, 64% of White Democrats said they worry a great deal about the possibility, versus 79% of Black Democrats and 73% of Hispanic Democrats…
Black and Hispanic Americans were more likely than White Americans to worry about water pollution even before several crises resulting from polluted drinking water in majority-Black communities became national news over the past decade…”
Gallup also finds that, while national concerns about water pollution spiked when the Flint water crisis became a national story, Black Americans’ concerns about water pollution have been consistently high in the years before and since Flint became a high-profile issue:
“During the five-year period that included the Flint crisis and its aftermath (2014-2018), the proportion of Americans saying they worried a great deal about water pollution climbed to 60%, and it returned to about eight in 10 (79%) among Black adults after dropping somewhat in the previous five-year period.
Concerns about polluted water have fallen only somewhat in the ensuing years as challenges facing minority communities have continued.”
[CA] EDF Action – California voters, including those in swing congressional districts, understand that climate change impacts the weather and the state economy (Press Release, Memo)
EDF Action recently completed a thorough, multi-phase research project in California, including one poll of voters statewide, one poll of voters in eight of the state’s most competitive U.S. House districts, and three online discussion boards with key constituencies in swing U.S. House districts.
Their polling finds that, both statewide and in swing CDs, California voters view climate change as a major problem that is tangibly impacting the state:
- 61% say that climate change is either a “crisis” or serious problem, including 53% in swing CDs
- 60% say that climate change plays a major role in extreme weather events, including 53% in swing CDs
This broad recognition that climate change is contributing to the state’s extreme weather events is particularly important because Californians also connect extreme weather to the state economy: over seven in ten voters statewide (72%), including 68% in swing CDs, say that extreme weather events have a large or moderate effect on the state economy.
Pulling some of the key findings from the poll memo:
“One important finding in the statewide and targeted congressional district surveys is that the two samples have much more in common than they have differences regarding core environmental issues. This is an encouraging finding because, despite the partisan differences between the two samples (for example, Democrats have a +24 advantage in party registration in our statewide sample and a minimal +3 advantage in the targeted CDs), there is opportunity to connect with voters on climate change even in the more politically challenging swing congressional districts….
Voters across California are concerned about climate change, especially with the daily, tangible effects—on how it affects both California’s environment and its economy. The climate-caused events of the past few years clearly have made an impact on voters’ attitudes, with wildfires and drought vying with economic concerns (particularly in the swing CDs) such as gasoline prices and energy bills…
In promoting climate change as an effective 2024 issue, messaging should emphasize the economic and job benefits of addressing climate change. This finding underscores again that campaigns promoting climate action should connect clearly to reducing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events AND, in turn, bolstering California’s economy.”
The poll memo additionally identifies four core messaging frames about climate change that resonate with persuadable voters and are accordingly important to use in messaging to persuadable audiences in the state.
Jobs: “Climate action will create tens of thousands of new jobs in big cities and small towns across California that cannot be outsourced—jobs for everyone in every industry and skill-level.”
Energy Independence: “Investment in American-made clean energy will lower our dependence on imported oil, protect us from future price hikes, and the unpredictability of the global market.”
Food: “To protect our food supply and protect ourselves against future disruptions to our food system, we need climate action now.”
Costs: “Climate action will be good for Californians’ wallets by protecting us from the unforeseen costs of climate change, buffering against future price hikes through stronger national supply chains, and increasing the number of American jobs that cannot be outsourced to other countries.”
This messaging guidance is consistent with what we’re seeing in national polls, as cost savings and energy independence in particular have become more salient rationales for climate action and clean energy since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
[FL] Florida Atlantic University – Nine in ten Floridians recognize that climate change is happening, and most support making solar the state’s primary source of energy (Website, Press Release, Topline)
This newly released statewide polling demonstrates that overwhelming majorities of Floridians are concerned about climate change and want their state to take action to deal with it:
- Nine in ten state residents recognize that climate change is happening (90%), including nearly two-thirds (65%) who say that climate change is caused largely by human activity
- Floridians overwhelmingly agree that the state government “should do more to address the impacts of climate change” (71% agree / 11% disagree), including 44% who agree strongly
- Nearly three-quarters agree that climate change has them “concerned about the well-being of future generations in Florida” (74% agree / 12% disagree)
The poll shows that Floridians encourage climate action at the federal level as well. Nearly three-quarters agree that the federal government “should do more to address the impacts of climate change” (73% agree / 12% disagree) and state residents support the Inflation Reduction Act by a greater than three-to-one margin (55% support / 16% oppose) when it’s referenced by name and described as a “major energy and climate change law.”
Additionally, the poll finds that Floridians widely back the clean energy transition and specifically want solar to replace natural/methane gas as the state’s dominant energy source.
Floridians are much more likely to say that their home electricity comes from natural gas (30%) than from other sources such as solar (10%), nuclear (9%), coal (6%), and wind (3%). An additional 42% admit that they don’t know what energy source is used to produce their home electricity.
Polls generally show that people are very bad at guessing where their electricity comes from, but the responses here demonstrate at least some level of understanding that natural/methane gas is currently the state’s dominant fuel source.
When asked which primary form of energy production they want Florida to support in the future, meanwhile, solar (58%) is clearly the top option of state residents – ahead of natural gas (10%), wind (10%), nuclear (7%), and coal (1%).
The poll also finds that Florida residents worry about a range of environmental problems affecting the state, with drinking water pollution, the health of natural resources, and hurricanes standing out as the issues of greatest concern:
- Losing access to Florida’s clean and reliable drinking water supplies – 74% concerned
- The health of Florida’s natural environment, including coral reefs, wetlands, and fisheries – 71%
- Hurricanes becoming stronger and/or more frequent – 68%
- Higher storm surge flooding near Florida’s coastline – 67%
- Temperatures rising – 65%
- Flooding from rainfall becoming heavier – 61%
- Rising sea levels – 60%
- Droughts becoming stronger and/or more frequent – 56%
Amid Governor Ron DeSantis’s ideological attacks on the state’s education system, meanwhile, the poll finds that Floridians would strongly resist any attempt to censor climate education. By a roughly seven-to-one margin, residents support Florida schools teaching the “causes, consequences, and solutions to climate change in our K-12 classrooms” (71% support / 10% oppose).
Related Resources
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