Issue: Climate Impacts

American voters support policies aimed at addressing climate change. Nearly three in four (71%) voters support requiring 100% of electricity to be renewable by 2050, and almost half would support the federal government helping to pay for the energy transition. Two-thirds of voters (67%) believe that government action on climate change would have positive economic effects (job creation, positioning in the international economy). Most voters also support policies that would implement pollution limits for industry and busines, create stricter fuel efficiency standards for trucks and cars, require private companies to pay a tax on their carbon pollution, and policies that would provide assistance to communities losing jobs in the oil and gas sector. There is also high support for updating infrastructure to withstand climate change and for the infrastructure updates to include pollution targets themselves. Finally, most American voters believe that climate change is affecting agriculture, extreme weather, public health, the US economy, and their family’s health.

The most concerning message about air pollution’s impacts is how it can affect the brain health of babies and children. This survey experiment tested which messages about the impacts of air pollution are most concerning to people. The message about the effects on the neurology of babies and children was more concerning to people than other messages that included: a general impact on all adults’ brain health, impacts on children and older adults and people living close to pollution sources, impacts on hearts and lungs and brains, and impacts on older adults and the likelihood of dementia and Alzheimer’s.