Public Resource
Poll: How Americans View Climate Change and Policies to Address the Issue
Americans are split on whether efforts to address climate change help or hurt the economy. Democrats and Republicans continue to have different priorities for climate policy, with Democrats emphasizing environmental protection and Republicans prioritizing consumer costs. 74% of Americans say that human activities like burning fossil fuels are contributing at least “some” to climate change. 64% of Americans say that climate change is currently having at least “some” impact on their local community. 69% of Americans say that large businesses and corporations are doing too little to help reduce the effects of climate change. 89% of Americans support planting about a trillion trees to absorb carbon emissions. 84% of Americans support requiring oil and gas companies to seal methane gas leaks from oil wells. 83% of Americans support providing a tax credit to Americans who improve home energy efficiency. 79% of Americans support providing a tax credit to businesses for developing technology that captures and stores carbon emissions. 68% of Americans support taxing corporations based on their carbon emissions. 61% of Americans support requiring power plants to eliminate all carbon emissions by 2040.