Audience: Youth

With six months until the 2022 election, most young voters are frustrated with the lack of progress and pessimistic about the future. Voters under 35 say things are not going well with respect to virtually every issue facing their generations, from the economy and health care costs to abortion rights and climate change. Just 22% believe things are excellent or good with regard to climate change. Further, 80% support “Reducing carbon emissions and addressing the impact of climate change.” With few exceptions, they don’t trust either political party in the country to handle their concerns. 90% say things in the country are on the wrong track. Overwhelming majorities of young people say that things are not going well with respect to each issue area tested in this survey, with the exception of the right to vote (55% positive, 45% negative) and protecting LGBTQ rights (split 49% positive, 51% negative). They are the most negative about money in politics (5% positive) and healthcare costs (7% positive). There are some notable differences in assessments of problems by gender and race/ethnicity. These young voters overwhelmingly say the trust the Democratic Party more than Republican Party with many issues. This poll asked more questions about assessments of problems and policies.

So much new social science research, polling, articles, field reports, and other great evidence gets added to the Lab’s Resource Library each week, that it can be hard to keep up (even for us on staff!). We’ve taken a beat to look back at forty of the most significant pieces we’ve uploaded so far this year and the key themes that emerge from what we’re learning.

The Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) is strongly appealing to young Americans, who are deeply concerned about climate change but not sure what they can personally do about it. The poll finds that 77% of young Americans aged 18-28 are concerned about climate change. However, when asked about actions they are taking to address climate change, 65% say they “care about climate change” but aren’t sure what they “can do personally to make a difference.” After reading a brief description of the CCC proposal, including its pay (at least $15/hour) and benefits (health care and educational assistance), young Americans support the idea by a resounding 72%-9% margin. Additionally, 38% of young Americans say they would consider joining the Civilian Climate Corps if a position was available to them.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including new polling on the impact of extreme weather on climate attitudes, the current energy crisis, the clean energy transition, and Gen Z Americans’ perspectives on climate and the environment.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including new polling on Biden’s climate agenda, voters’ relative trust in the two parties to handle climate change and the environment, voters’ prioritization of climate change relative to other legislative issues in Washington, and a new report of American teens’ attitudes about climate change and the environment.

With the threats from telecom carriers to restrict broadcast and peer-to-peer texting, advocates may need to pivot to alternative modes of contact to reach and engage supporters. Sunrise Movement partnered with the Climate Advocacy Lab and The Movement Cooperative to test a relatively new technology as a potential replacement for text messages: ringless voicemail messages (a.k.a. voicemail drops). This approach allows senders to “drop” a voicemail into a recipient’s phone without registering as an incoming call, allowing for some of the same benefits of texting (asynchronous communication, notification on phone, etc.) but outside of the purview of carriers.