This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new guidance for advocates on how to communicate about rising gas prices and the need to shift away from dependence on oil, new polling on Green New Deal proposals, a comparison of American adults’ climate attitudes to climate scientists’, and new polling of young voters about climate issues.

 

 

HEADLINES

• Climate Power + LCV - Amid the current energy crisis, voters are receptive to arguments about reducing the country’s dependence on oil; top-testing messages focus on energy independence and fossil fuel companies’ profits (Memo, Deck)
• Yahoo + YouGov - Americans believe that Joe Biden and oil and gas companies are more to blame for rising gas prices than other actors; targets of blame are largely driven by partisanship (Topline, Crosstabs)
• Data for Progress - Voters continue to widely support Green New Deal legislation (Release, Topline + Crosstabs)
• YouGov - The majority of Americans describe climate change as a “crisis”, and half expect to see “catastrophic impacts” of climate change in their lifetimes; however, average Americans still lag well behind climate scientists in how seriously they view the problem (Article, Topline, Crosstabs)
• Sunrise Movement + Data for Progress - Young voters primarily blame the influence of corporations and wealthy donors in Washington for the lack of government action on climate; majorities support a Green New Deal and the declaration of a National Climate Emergency (Memo)

 

 

GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT

• 87% of voters support cracking down on price gouging and excessive price increases by oil companies that result in higher gas prices at the pump [Climate Power + LCV]
• 80% of voters support a windfall profits tax on the extra profits that oil companies are making from the higher gasoline prices they are charging because of the Russia-Ukraine situation [Climate Power + LCV]
• 77% of voters support increasing the production of energy in the United States from clean and renewable sources such as wind and solar power while reducing our dependence on oil [Climate Power + LCV]
• 77% of employed Americans want their employer to take more actions to address climate change [Protocol + Harris Poll]
• 69% of voters support passing tax credits to encourage new investments in solar power and wind energy [Climate Power + LCV]
• 69% of voters support a Green New Deal for Public Schools after reading a brief description that includes its estimated price tag [Data for Progress]
• 68% of voters support a Green New Deal for Public Housing after reading a brief description that includes its estimated price tag [Data for Progress]
• 65% of voters support a Green New Deal for Cities after reading a brief description that includes its estimated price tag [Data for Progress]
• By a 66%-23% margin, voters want to pass a version of the Build Back Better package that includes investments in clean energy like wind and solar [Navigator]
• 64% of voters support passing incentives to lower the price of electric vehicles and increase the number of electric vehicles manufactured in the United States [Climate Power + LCV]
• 61% of Americans believe that the world is experiencing a “climate crisis” [YouGov]
• More Americans say that climate change and the environment is the single most important issue to them than any other issue aside from the economy and health care [Economist + YouGov]

 

 

FULL ROUNDUP

 

Climate Power + LCV

Amid the current energy crisis, voters are receptive to arguments about reducing the country’s dependence on oil; top-testing messages focus on energy independence and fossil fuel companies’ profits (Memo, Deck)

 

Climate Power and LCV have released some very timely poll results this week to provide climate and clean energy advocates with effective messaging that they can use to talk about clean energy and gas prices during the current crisis. You can register here for a poll briefing on these findings that Climate Power, LCV, and pollsters from Hart Research will be providing on Tuesday, 3/22 at noon EST.

 

Overall, this new polling finds that there are persuasive messages for advocates to use to demonstrate the need to shift away from oil dependence and to combat the narrative from fossil fuel companies that the country needs to double down on oil extraction. 

 

Pulling from the linked memo, with some emphasis added in bold:

 

“The dramatic effect that Putin’s war is having on gas prices is creating the potential for a critical new inflection point when Americans recognize that it is essential to reduce our reliance on oil not only as an environmental imperative, but also as an economic imperative and a necessity for achieving true energy independence. 

 

Consider the following:

• 61% say that America’s continued dependence on oil is a major cause of rising gasoline prices today.
• 59% say it is very important for the President and Congress to take action to reduce America’s dependence on oil. 

 

Voters put a premium on making America more energy independent (71% say it is very important for the President and Congress to act on this)... Clean energy advocates can take ownership of this goal by making the case that the best way for America to be truly energy independent is to increase the production of energy in the United States from clean and renewable sources, while reducing our dependence on oil. Seventy-seven (77%) percent of voters favor this approach to energy independence (which is a more meaningful long-term goal for voters than “energy security”), including 44% who strongly favor it. 

 

These are the two most important messages to communicate in making the case for reducing our dependence on oil and moving to clean and renewable energy sources instead:

 

• We will continue to experience big spikes in gasoline prices and energy costs as long as we are dependent on oil, because oil supplies are unreliable, dictators like Vladimir Putin and countries like Saudi Arabia use oil as a political weapon, and oil company CEOs are focused on maximizing their profits.
• Unlike oil, clean and renewable energy sources like solar and wind power won’t ever run out and will provide a secure and stable energy supply long into the future. 

 

For Republican-leaning audiences, it also is important to frame the case for renewable energy over oil in nationalistic terms: the price we pay for oil in America is determined by the world oil market, and we can never be truly energy independent and in control of our own energy security as long as we are dependent on oil.”

 

The poll also provides a lot of evidence to show that voters want more accountability for oil and gas companies in the current crisis. In fact, the poll finds that cracking down on price gouging and excessive price increases by oil companies that result in higher gas prices at the pump is the single most popular action that the President and Congress can take to combat rising gas prices. Nearly nine in ten voters (87%) support this action, which has even higher support than other popular proposals such as banning the export of U.S.-produced oil to China and countries that are aligned with Putin (79%), suspending the 18.3-cents-per-gallon federal gasoline tax (75%), and releasing more oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (72%).

 

The poll also finds that, by a 57%-24% margin, voters believe it is a “valid criticism” to say that oil company CEOs are “profiteering off the war between Russia and Ukraine and using the war as an opportunity to raise gas prices just to increase their profits.” Additionally, the poll finds that four in five voters (80%) support placing a “windfall profits tax on the extra profits oil companies are making from the higher gasoline prices they are charging because of the Russia-Ukraine situation” - including nearly half (45%) who strongly support a windfall profits tax.

 

Yahoo + YouGov

Americans believe that Joe Biden and oil and gas companies are more to blame for rising gas prices than other actors; targets of blame are largely driven by partisanship (Topline, Crosstabs)

 

This new national tracking poll from Yahoo and YouGov provides some important context to the debates over rising gas prices and the country’s dependence on oil. 

 

They find that, when asked to choose who is most responsible for the recent increase in gasoline prices, most Americans blame either President Biden (30%) or oil and gas companies (23%). Just under one in five (19%) blame Russia, while few blame any of the other response options provided in the poll - including Democrats in Congress (4%), Republicans in Congress (4%), and Saudi Arabia (2%).

 

These topline figures only tell part of the story, however, because the crosstabs show that Americans are interpreting the rise in gas prices in dramatically different ways depending on their partisan leanings.

 

Among self-identified Democrats, oil and gas companies (38%) and Russia (30%) are clearly the top targets of blame for the rise in gas prices, while just 8% blame President Biden.

 

Self-identified independents are more likely to blame President Biden (32%) than any other actor, while oil and gas companies (24%) and Russia (16%) also receive a significant amount of blame.

 

And self-identified Republicans overwhelmingly say that President Biden is most to blame for the rise in gas prices (60%), with just 11% blaming Russia and only 6% blaming oil and gas companies.

 

All of this data reinforces the need for the environmental community to provide a clear and consistent explanation about how oil and gas companies are exploiting the crisis to pad their profits; no single narrative about who’s to blame for rising gas prices has taken hold as of yet, and in that void many Americans are simply relying on their gut partisan feelings to make sense of the situation.

 

Data for Progress

Voters continue to widely support Green New Deal legislation (Release, Topline + Crosstabs)

 

This new poll from Data for Progress backs up a lot of previous polling on the Green New Deal, which has long shown that, contrary to conventional wisdom and cable news punditry, the Green New Deal has actually remained popular with the public over time. 

 

While it’s true that a conservative media onslaught was effective in bringing down some of the Green New Deal’s initial support (see this Yale/GMU report, which tracked the shift in Americans’ attitudes toward the Green New Deal between late 2018 and early 2019 and found that the dip in support was driven almost entirely by conservative voters), Data for Progress found that voters supported the Green New Deal by a two-to-one margin last year.

 

In this new poll, Data for Progress tested support for three different Green New Deal-branded bills that were introduced in Congress last year - including the Green New Deal for Public Schools, the Green New Deal for Public Housing, and the Green New Deal for Cities - and found broad support for these as well as several other climate-related legislative proposals. After reading short descriptions of each of these proposals, large majorities back every single one - showing that the public remains very eager to see bold climate action from federal lawmakers:

• The Green New Deal for Public Schools (69% support / 24% oppose)
• The Green New Deal for Public Housing (68% support / 25% oppose)
• The Green New Deal for Cities (65% support / 26% oppose)
• The End Polluter Welfare Act (64% support / 24% oppose)
• The Civilian Climate Corps (63% support / 27% oppose)
• The BUILD GREEN Infrastructure and Jobs Act (62% support / 31% oppose)

 

It’s also notable that Republican voters aren’t particularly opposed to any of the Green New Deal proposals after learning basic information about them; even the one that is least popular with Republican respondents in the poll, the Green New Deal for Cities, only attracts opposition from half of Republicans (39% support / 50% oppose). 

 

This is a good indicator that the coordinated messaging campaign against the Green New Deal from Fox News and other conservative outlets may be fading from voters’ memories a bit, and also that the misinformation in those anti-GND campaigns (e.g., scaremongering about the banning of meat) can be effectively countered by providing real, basic facts about these proposals.

 

YouGov

The majority of Americans describe climate change as a “crisis”, and half expect to see “catastrophic impacts” of climate change in their lifetimes; however, average Americans still lag well behind climate scientists in how seriously they view the problem (Article, Topline, Crosstabs)

 

This new poll from YouGov reinforces that Americans are increasingly seeing climate change as a serious and immediate threat, with significant percentages of the population saying that climate concerns have impacted their life choices and mental well-being. 

 

Just over three in five Americans (61%) agree that the world is experiencing a “climate crisis”, and nearly half (49%) expect to see “catastrophic impacts of climate change” in their lifetimes.

 

Additionally, over one-third (35%) say that they have experienced “anxiety, grief, or other distress because of concerns over climate change” and similar percentages say that global warming has caused them to reconsider major life decisions such as where to live (32%) and lifestyle choices such as diet, transportation, and travel (38%). Nearly one in five Americans (18%) even say that climate concerns have caused them to reconsider decisions to have children.

 

The YouGov article linked here compares the general public’s poll responses on these questions to a 2021 survey of climate scientists conducted by the academic journal Nature and finds that average Americans significantly understate the seriousness of the problem relative to experts. For example, compared to climate scientists, U.S. adults are 27 points less likely to say that the world is experiencing a “climate crisis” (61% to 88%), 

 

It’s an illuminating comparison that parallels one of the main findings from Yale and GMU’s long-running tracking study of Americans’ climate attitudes: Americans systematically underestimate the level of scientific consensus about human-caused climate change.

 

Sunrise Movement + Data for Progress

Young voters primarily blame the influence of corporations and wealthy donors in Washington for the lack of government action on climate; majorities support a Green New Deal and the declaration of a National Climate Emergency (Memo)

 

This new poll of young voters aged 18-35 finds that this cohort widely backs bold climate policies but doesn’t have a great deal of trust in political leaders or society writ large to handle climate change. 

 

Young voters are split in their beliefs that society can meaningfully address climate change (54% very or somewhat optimistic / 46% not very or not at all optimistic), and are also divided on whether President Biden can be trusted to handle the issue (51% trust some or a great deal / 49% don’t trust much or at all). Even those who trust Biden on the issue are quite tepid, with just 18% saying they trust him “a great deal,” and faith in Congress to handle the issue is even lower (41% trust some or a great deal, including 10% who trust Congress “a great deal”). 

 

When the survey asks them who is to blame for Congress’s failure to pass major legislation to address climate change, it becomes clear that many young voters see Congress’s inaction on climate as a symptom of a corrupted political system rather than a standalone problem. 

 

The survey provided four possible reasons for Congress’s failure to pass major climate legislation, and 49% said that the biggest reason was that “lawmakers are too heavily influenced by corporations and wealthy donors'' - making this by far the most commonly chosen explanation, ahead of alternative explanations that “there has not been enough public support for taking action on climate change” (18%), that “the federal government is too big and inefficient” (16%), and that “some environmental activists are unwilling to compromise and make a deal” (11%). Additionally, this notion that lawmakers are too heavily influenced by corporations and wealthy donors was far and away the most commonly selected explanation for the failure of climate legislation among young voters of every party affiliation. 

 

It’s worthwhile to keep this pessimism about American politics in mind when communicating to voters about climate policies, as there is a clear sense from this audience that real progress on climate can’t be made without reforms to our society and political system. 

 

Perhaps driven in part by their lack of faith in Congress, young voters widely support President Biden issuing an executive order to “declare a National Climate Emergency that would allow the government to re-allocate federal resources and establish regulations to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change” (63% support / 32% oppose). The poll also finds that, just like the American public on the whole, young voters support the Green New Deal by a wide margin (55% support / 20% oppose).