Environmental Polling Roundup – July 15th, 2022

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including a major new Pew report on Americans’ attitudes about climate, environmental, and energy issues; new polling on the West Virginia v. EPA decision; a new peer-reviewed paper on the language of climate change from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication; and new polls focusing on Latino voters and voters in Western States. 

HEADLINES

Pew

Most Americans still agree that stricter environmental protections are “worth the cost,” but this majority is slipping; despite deep partisan divides on the government’s approach to climate change, Americans widely support specific policies to boost clean energy and carbon capture (Release, Report, Topline)

Economist + YouGov

Americans haven’t heard much about the Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA, but are more likely to oppose than support the ruling after learning about it (Topline, Crosstabs)

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC)

Language used to communicate about preparedness actions and policies matters, as Republicans are more willing to take and support action to prepare for “extreme weather” than “climate change” (Article)

[Latino Voters] Climate Power + Data for Progress

Latino voters are widely supportive of the clean energy transition and see it as an economic positive; amid the energy crisis, most Latino voters blame oil and gas companies for high gas prices and want to see these companies held accountable (Release, Memo, Topline)

[AZ, CO, NM, + NV] Center for Western Priorities

Voters in Western States are attracted to elected leaders who want to protect public lands, invest in clean energy, and respond to climate change; voters in these states widely agree that climate change is fundamentally changing life in the West (Release, Executive Summary Deck, Full Deck, Topline)

GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT

• 90% of Americans support planting about a trillion new trees to absorb carbon emissions [Pew]

• 79% of Americans support tax credits to businesses for developing carbon capture and storage technologies [Pew]

• 72% of Americans support requiring power companies to use more energy from renewable sources [Pew]

• 68% of Americans support taxing corporations based on their carbon emissions [Pew]

• 67% of Americans support incentives to increase the use of hybrid and electric vehicles [Pew]

• [Latino Voters] 74% of Latino voters support investment by Congress to expand clean energy production by providing financial incentives for power producers who use clean energy [Climate Power + Data for Progress]

• [Latino Voters] 74% of Latino voters believe that expanding clean energy production in the United States will have a positive impact on the economy [Climate Power + Data for Progress]

• [Latino Voters] 73% of Latino voters support a tax on the excess profits of oil and gas companies [Climate Power + Data for Progress]

• [Latino Voters] 55% of Latino voters blame oil and gas companies “a great deal” for higher energy prices [Climate Power + Data for Progress]

• [Western States] 81% of voters in Western States say that conservation of public lands, parks, and wildlife is important to them in deciding who to vote for in the 2022 midterm elections [Center for Western Priorities]

• [Western States] 74% of voters in Western States would feel more favorably toward an elected leader who invested in the renewable energy sector [Center for Western Priorities]

• [Western States] 71% of voters in Western States would feel more favorably toward an elected leader who responded to the threats posed by climate change [Center for Western Priorities]