Environmental Polling Roundup – July 21st, 2023

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls – including on extreme weather, Southwest heat wave, the Inflation Reduction Act, farmers and extreme weather, and the harms of fossil fuels. 

See this webpage for links to the following resources. 

HEADLINES

Quinnipiac University – Three in five Americans say that extreme weather is related to climate change; most expect climate change to have a “significant negative effect” on the world in their lifetimes [Website, Release]

Yahoo + YouGov – Most American say that climate change is contributing to the Southwest heat wave, and a growing share say that climate change has made things worse in their lives [Article, Crosstabs]

Navigator – Voters continue to support the Inflation Reduction Act by wide margins, and most find it credible that the bill will significantly lower household energy costs [Website, Report, Topline]

[CO, GA, MI, & PA] Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) – Amid Farm Bill negotiations, voters in key states are more likely to support political candidates who want to help farmers to adapt to extreme weather and to be part of the solution to climate change [Website, National Crosstabs, Key States Topline]

Yale + University of Cincinnati – Messaging about the harms of fossil fuels increases support for renewable energy, with or without appeals to morality and ethics [Article]

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Voters believe that energy prices and carbon emissions can be reduced at the same time. Navigator finds that just over half of voters believe that the Inflation Reduction Act will lower the average family’s energy costs while reducing carbon pollution. Polling about the clean energy transition generally finds that Americans are wary that it will make their energy bills more expensive, so this is an encouraging finding that shows that the public does believe it’s possible to reduce emissions and energy costs at the same time. Convincing the public that clean energy will save them money is imperative for building support for the energy transition, so clean energy advocates should emphasize lowering costs and use specific estimates where possible. The Navigator poll, for example, stated that the Inflation Reduction Act will save the average family $1,000 per year in energy costs while reducing carbon pollution by 40%.
   
• We’re building some traction in convincing Americans about the current, personal impacts of climate change. Yahoo and YouGov find that a rising share of Americans say that climate change has had a negative impact on their lives, and polls released this week also find that Americans believe that climate change is contributing to extreme weather generally and to specific events like the heat wave in the Southwest. The more that advocates can drive home the connection between climate change and the weather – especially extreme heat, which is the most commonly cited type of extreme weather that Americans experience and the type of extreme weather that is most intuitively linked to climate change – the more we can convince the public that the climate crisis is a here-and-now problem.
   

GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT

• [Extreme Weather + Climate Change] 60% of Americans say that extreme weather events in the United States over the last few years are related to climate change [Quinnipiac]
   
• [Extreme Weather + Climate Change] 55% of Americans recognize that climate change is contributing to extreme weather events such as the heat wave across the Southwest United States [Yahoo + YouGov]
   
• [Climate Change] 67% of Americans say they’re concerned about climate change, including 42% who are “very” concerned [Quinnipiac]
   
• [Climate Change] 58% of Americans recognize that human activity is causing climate change [Yahoo + YouGov]
   
• [Climate Change] 56% of Americans say that climate change is an established scientific fact [Yahoo + YouGov]
   
• [Climate Change] 55% of Americans believe that climate change will have a significant negative effect on the world in their lifetime [Quinnipiac]
   
• [Inflation Reduction Act] 66% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act after reading a brief, one-sentence description of it [Navigator]
   
• [Inflation Reduction Act] 73% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act’s policies to lower energy costs for the average family by $1,000 a year and reduce carbon pollution by 40% [Navigator]
   
• [Inflation Reduction Act] 64% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act’s policies to provide tax credits to expand clean energy production like solar and wind power [Navigator]
   
• [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]