Issue: Climate Policy

Climate Nexus’s national poll this month focuses on infrastructure but also touches on several other key debates over climate and clean energy.
The poll is also interesting in that it is one of the few public polls that puts clean energy front and center in its description of the American Jobs Plan, and even connects the bill to a 100% clean economy goal. Consistent with other polling that has found that climate and clean energy components enhance support for the American Jobs Plan, Climate Nexus finds that voters have overwhelmingly positive reactions to big investment in clean energy infrastructure.
Voters support the idea of “multi-trillion-dollar economic stimulus legislation that prioritizes investments in clean energy infrastructure and technologies” by a 62%-29% margin, and continue to support it by a 56%-44% margin after learning that it would likely need to pass with no Republican votes.
The reason that the proposal enjoys majority support, even when presented as partisan legislation, is that Democratic voters care more about passing clean energy legislation than Republican voters care about stopping it: Democrats support passing a clean energy bill on a hypothetical party-line vote by a 91%-9% margin, while Republican voters oppose it by an 81%-19% margin.

A May 2021 poll found high support for a Climate Conservation Corps and medium support for nature-based climate solutions. Among likely voters surveyed, 83% of Democrats, 67% of Independents, and even 50% of Republicans support “government investments in a new “Climate Conservation Corps.” 80% of Democrats, 59% of Independents, and 41% of Republicans support “ocean climate action, which is harnessing the natural ability of the ocean to fight climate change.” Voters showed similar levels of support for “nature-based solutions to climate change.”             

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including polling on the American Jobs Plan, taxes for infrastructure, the Keystone XL cancellation, and climate impacts.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including polling on infrastructure and climate policy and oil and gas company accountability.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including polling on infrastructure policy, conservative clean energy beliefs, and conservation as a bipartisan priority.

Clean energy and climate mitigation policies are very popular. 60% of registered voters say developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress. 78% support providing tax rebates to people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels. 76% support funding more research into renewable energy sources. 72% support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant. 67% support transitioning the U.S. economy (including electric utilities, transportation, buildings, and industry) from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050. 82% support re-establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps, which would employ workers to protect natural ecosystems, plant trees in rural and urban areas, and restore the soil on farmlands. 56% of registered voters support a U.S. president declaring global warming a national emergency if Congress does not act. Many more related survey questions were asked.