Resources

Search below for resources covering the intersection of climate engagement, social science and data analytics.

RESULTS

Environmental Polling Roundup – January 24th, 2025

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
01-24-2025

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including recent polling related to Trump’s Day One executive orders, new polling on oil and gas subsidies, and a new study of Americans’ attitudes about climate justice.

Environmental Polling Roundup – January 17th, 2025

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
01-17-2025

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on climate impacts, the California wildfires, and disaster preparedness.

There is little public support for increasing drilling on public lands or withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. Only 21% of Americans support withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, with 52% opposed. Only 35% of Americans support increasing oil drilling on public lands, with 39% opposed.

Even before the California wildfires, voters overwhelmingly supported government programs to help expand home insurance coverage, help pay for damages from extreme weather events, and invest in disaster preparedness and resilience. 74% of voters support the federal government funding disaster prevention and extreme weather resilience efforts at the community level. 71% of voters support the federal government creating a policy that would pay some of the costs of home insurance for low- and moderate-income households. 68% of voters support the federal government creating a national insurance fund to cover damages from extreme weather events. 67% of voters support the federal government providing home insurance coverage for extreme weather events directly to Americans.

2024 Data for Climate Progress Wrapped

Catherine Fraser, Grade Adcox, and Eva Brungard. Data for Climate Progress
Research & Articles
12-19-2024

Voters consistently report holding strong favorable views of solar energy. However, despite this positive sentiment, just under half of voters report being likely to consider rooftop solar installation, highlighting a key gap between sentiments to solar and action. Younger voters and renters have greater support for solar, highlighting the potential for future solar adoption as they become homeowners or encourage their landlord to adopt solar. These findings highlight the importance of education to bridge the gap between consumer interest and action on residential solar adoption. Investments in education about the benefits of solar, including reduced energy costs – coupled with outreach to ensure voters are hearing about targeted financial incentives to bring down the upfront costs of installation – could help remove financial barriers and accelerate solar deployment and the transition to a more sustainable energy future.

Environmental Polling Roundup – December 13th, 2024

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
12-13-2024

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including a new report from Pew about Americans’ beliefs and preferences for climate policy, new polling about residential solar, and new research about the emotions behind climate activism.

Poll: How Americans View Climate Change and Policies to Address the Issue

Brian Kennedy and Alec Tyson. Pew Research Center
Research & Articles
12-09-2024

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.

Voters Say IRA Is Here To Stay

Grace Adcox and Catherine Fraser. Data for Climate Progress
Research & Articles
12-03-2024

The electorate has a growing awareness of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and its energy efficiency and electrification incentives: 63% of respondents say they are somewhat or very interested in pursuing home electrification and efficiency upgrades. This includes 70% of Latino Americans, 66% of Black Americans, 60% of White Americans, and 58% of rural Americans. Additionally, voters report that the components of the IRA that make them more likely to support federal investments in clean energy and energy efficiency focus on potential cost savings from energy efficiency upgrades and the creation of new clean energy jobs. In addition to voters overall, majorities of voters across partisanship favor keeping various IRA incentives, rather than ending them. After reading that components of the IRA may face repeal by a new administration, voters say that losing household energy savings or economy-wide air quality improvement benefits are among the most concerning outcomes of IRA repeal.

Environmental Polling Roundup – November 29th, 2024

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
11-29-2024

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling about Trump’s plans for the EPA and new findings about climate change as an issue in the 2024 election.

If defending against Congressional efforts to revoke the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), call it a "repeal" of incentives that are lowering costs for Americans, not a "rollback". Poll testing indicates "repeal" generates more opposition. Positive statements about the IRA increase support, especially messages about the jobs and tax savings that have been created. Energy unreliability and air pollution/health impacts are the top reasons to keep the IRA. Even Majorities of Republicans want to keep IRA incentives. There is an overall strong belief that efficiency upgrades would be helpful, and belief in pro-clean energy statements is higher than opposition statements. There is, however, low awareness of local energy investments related to the IRA and low awareness of repeal efforts. Understanding of terminology varies: "Energy justice" & "Energy equity" are not well understood, while "energy efficiency" and "weatherization" are well understood by Americans. Regarding personal behaviors, cost savings are a key motivator of efficiency & electrification upgrades, while upfront costs and uncertainty about qualification are key barriers. Responses are broadly similar across race, though Black voters are slightly more concerned about certain impacts of IRA repeal, while rural voters tend to show slightly less support for IRA policies.