This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new state-level polls in Texas and Nebraska.
HEADLINES
- [Nebraska] University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Rural Nebraskans are concerned about extreme weather and climate change, but aren’t convinced about proposed climate solutions (Website, Full Report)
- [Texas] University of Texas-Austin - The majority of Texas voters recognize that climate change is happening, and pluralities say that the state government and businesses aren’t doing enough to address it (Release, Topline, Crosstabs)
GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT
- [Issue Priority] More Americans name climate change and the environment as the single “most important issue” to them than any other issue aside from inflation/prices, health care, and the economy/jobs [The Economist + YouGov]
- [Texas] 62% of Texas voters recognize that climate change is happening, while just 23% deny it [University of Texas-Austin]
- [Texas] Texas voters are more than twice as likely to say that the state government is doing too little to address climate change (41%) as to say that the state government is doing too much (16%) [University of Texas-Austin]
- [Nebraska] 59% of rural Nebraskans agree that we have a responsibility to future generations to reduce the effects of climate change [University of Nebraska-Lincoln]
- [Nebraska] 55% of rural Nebraskans are concerned about severe droughts [University of Nebraska-Lincoln]
- [Nebraska] 52% of rural Nebraskans recognize that human activity is contributing to climate change [University of Nebraska-Lincoln]
FULL ROUNDUP
[Nebraska] University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Rural Nebraskans are concerned about extreme weather and climate change, but aren’t convinced about proposed climate solutions (Website, Full Report)
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has released the 27th annual edition of its Nebraska Rural Poll, which surveyed 1,105 Nebraskans in rural counties using a self-administered questionnaire that was mailed to a randomized sample of households.
The survey finds that rural Nebraskans acknowledge climate change and worry about extreme weather like droughts, but don’t understand the connection between climate change and weather and aren’t very supportive of proposed climate solutions.
These general findings aren’t too surprising for an audience that we can assume has a conservative skew (the report doesn’t include the partisan or ideological makeup of the survey sample, but rural Nebraska counties lean heavily Republican), but certain data points set rural Nebraskans apart from typical conservative-leaning audiences.
For example, while polls generally find that extreme heat is the most concerning type of extreme weather for most audiences, rural Nebraskans are more likely to be concerned about severe droughts or long dry periods (55% concerned).
Roughly half (50%) say they’re concerned about extreme summer temperatures (50%), while 36% are concerned about extreme winter temperatures and relatively few (24%) say they’re concerned about extreme rainfall or flooding.
When asked directly about climate change, the poll finds that most rural Nebraskans agree that “we have a responsibility to future generations to reduce the effects of climate change” (59%) and just over half (52%) recognize that human activity is contributing to climate change.
However, less than half of rural Nebraskans (47%) agree that recent extreme weather is related to climate change.
The survey also asked about the following six policy proposals to help combat climate change, with only one - tax credits for businesses to use clean energy - garnering majority support:
- Tax credits for businesses to use clean energy (51% favor / 21% oppose)
- Taxing corporations based on the amount of carbon emissions produced (43% favor / 31% oppose)
- Tax credits to use technology to capture and store carbon emissions (42% favor / 21% oppose)
- Tougher fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles (38% favor / 33% oppose)
- Tougher restrictions on carbon emissions (35% favor / 31% oppose)
- Tax credits for buying electric vehicles/trucks (29% favor / 49% oppose)
We’ve seen these kinds of policies garner more support from Republicans in other research, and part of the reason that these policies don’t poll as well here is likely because the Nebraska Rural Poll included an explicit “neither support nor oppose” response option.
The percentages saying they neither support nor oppose each policy ranged from 22% for electric vehicle tax credits up to 37% for tax credits for carbon capture and storage, suggesting that sizable chunks of rural Nebraskans are on the fence about climate policies and can be persuaded to support them.
The poll finds some clear skepticism about the economic impacts of climate action, however, with rural Nebraskans nearly twice as likely to disagree (43%) than agree (22%) that actions to address climate change will benefit the economy in the short term. Meanwhile, less than half believe that actions to address climate change will benefit the economy in the long run (42% agree / 29% disagree).
Rural Nebraskans also appear to be more muted in their support for clean energy expansion than other conservative-leaning audiences, with 62% saying that the state should use more solar energy and 45% saying that the state should use more wind energy. By comparison, Pew found in 2021 that 73% of Republicans nationwide support expanding solar energy and 62% support expanding wind energy.
In general, the results from the Nebraska Rural Poll underline that the environmental movement needs more research to understand how rural communities think and feel about climate change and energy so that we can better tailor our communications to these audiences. There’s clear potential to make climate change a more salient priority for rural and agricultural communities, given how they are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events like drought, but it will require strong messaging to overcome their skepticisms about climate action.
[Texas] University of Texas-Austin
The majority of Texas voters recognize that climate change is happening, and pluralities say that the state government and businesses aren’t doing enough to address it (Release, Topline, Crosstabs)
This new statewide polling of registered voters in Texas finds a sizable appetite for more climate action from both the state government and businesses.
The poll finds that the clear majority of Texans recognize that climate change is happening (62%), while just 23% deny it and 15% say they aren’t sure.
And while Texas voters are slightly more likely to say that the U.S. government is doing “too little” to address climate change (38%) than to say it is doing “too much” (31%), Texans are 25 points more likely to say that their state government is doing too little (41%) than too much (16%) to address climate change. These findings show that Texas voters are attuned to the fact that their state lags behind the rest of the country in taking action to combat climate change, and confirms that Texans aren’t satisfied with their state government’s approach.
The poll additionally asked Texans to rate how businesses and corporations are responding to major problems impacting society, and interestingly found that climate change is the problem that Texans are most likely to say businesses are doing too little about.
Texas voters are 15 points more likely to say that businesses and corporations are doing too little about climate change (44%) than to say that they’re doing too much (29%), with Texans more likely to say that businesses and corporations should be doing more on climate (44%) than to say that they should be doing more to address other issues such as women’s rights (40%), abortion access (39%), democracy and voting rights (39%), racial discrimination (39%), and LGBTQ rights (29%).
These findings suggest that voters see a greater role for corporations and businesses in addressing climate change than in addressing problems perceived as “social” issues, which helps explain the consistent popularity of corporate accountability on climate change.
The Environmental Polling Consortium (EPC) is a collaborative hub for the environmental community to share and discover public opinion research.
If you’d like to learn more about the EPC or are interested in becoming a member with access to non-public polling, contact EPC Partnerships Manager Leah Zamesnik at lzamesnik@partnershipproject.org.