This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including a new Pew report on Americans’ climate attitudes, a new analysis of pro-climate Republicans, and new polling on President Biden’s investments in clean energy and infrastructure.

HEADLINES

Pew
Americans widely agree that climate change is harming people in the U.S. today and expect climate impacts to get worse in the future; most trust that climate scientists understand the problem, despite doubts among Republicans [Climate Impacts Article, Scientific Trust Article, Report, Topline]

Yale + GMU
Republicans who worry the most about climate change skew younger, more female, and more suburban than other Republicans [Article]

Navigator
Investments in infrastructure and clean energy rank among President Biden’s most widely recognized accomplishments, as majorities continue to support the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act [Release, Deck]

KEY TAKEAWAYS

There’s an emerging consensus that climate change is negatively impacting Americans right now. Pew finds that seven in ten Americans believe that people in the country are currently being harmed by climate change, following other recent polling that has shown increased recognition of climate impacts after another historically hot summer.
There are clear pockets of climate concern within the Republican electorate. Yale and GMU find that several specific geographic and demographic subgroups within the Republican electorate tend to have deeper climate concerns than the rest of their party - especially younger Republicans, Republican women, and suburban Republicans. These particular groups also coincide with typical swing voting blocks in elections, suggesting that the national Republican Party’s dismissiveness toward climate change will again be a liability next fall. 
Voters see President Biden as a “clean energy president.” Navigator finds that majorities of voters recognize and support the way that President Biden has invested in clean energy. These findings are consistent with previous polling that shows that Americans associate Biden’s presidency with clean energy. 

GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT

[Climate Change] 75% of Americans recognize that human activity is contributing at least “some” to climate change [Pew]
[Climate Change] 71% of Americans agree that climate change is causing at least “some” harm to people in the U.S. today [Pew]
[Climate Change] 56% of Americans rate climate change as an “extremely” or “very” serious problem [Pew]
[Climate Change + Scientific Trust] 65% of Americans believe that climate scientists understand how climate change affects extreme weather events “very” or “fairly” well [Pew]
[Climate Change + Scientific Trust] 63% of Americans believe that climate scientists understand the causes of climate change “very” or “fairly” well [Pew]
[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 and health care [The Economist + YouGov]