Seven in ten voters support the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) when they see a basic explanation of it. Voters support the IRA by an overwhelming 71%-20% margin when provided with the following description: “The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 invests over $430 billion in clean energy and Affordable Care Act healthcare premiums. It also allows Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and pays down the national debt by $300 billion.” Data for Progress also finds that the IRA continues to hold a significant amount of cross-party appeal, with nearly nine in ten Democrats (89%), more than two-thirds of independents (72%), and half of Republicans (52%) saying that they support the law based on the description that the poll provided. Advocates have a strong case that workers and lower/middle class families stand to benefit most from the law. Majorities of voters believe that workers or jobseekers (64%) and middle and lower class Americans (62%) will benefit from the IRA after learning about the law’s major climate and health care provisions.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new national and swing state polling on the IRA’s tax credits and offshore drilling + new research on the terminology of climate change + new polling in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Two years after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law on August 16, 2022, companies have announced at least 334 major new clean energy and clean vehicle projects across the country. Of the announcements, 278 included estimates on the number of jobs the projects are expected to create and/or investment amounts. Based on this information, the projects, if completed, would create 109,278 new jobs and bring in $126 billion in private investments. The number of major IRA-related clean energy projects announced during the past twelve months declined from the previous year, when 216 projects were announced (211 initially reported). Still, the clean energy projects, jobs and investments related to the IRA are bringing new opportunities and economic benefits to communities across the country. Forty states and two out of three congressional districts are home to at least one announcement. Nearly 60% of the announced projects – representing 85% of the investments and 68% of the jobs – are in Republican congressional districts.

Overwhelming majorities nationally and in key swing states support maintaining tax credits for EVs, clean energy, and energy efficiency while limiting offshore drilling. 88% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for residential clean energy production. 89% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for new energy-efficient heating or air conditioning systems. 86% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for energy-saving improvements, such as fuel-efficient lighting, doors, windows, or insulation. 70% of Americans support the EPA’s standards requiring new cars and light trucks to get 20-30% more miles per gallon by 2027. 80% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for used EVs, and 79% support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for new EVs. 76% of Americans say that the government should either maintain or decrease the current amount of offshore drilling, while only 23% want to increase it.

This June 25 briefing features recent research on multiple climate politics topics. Rural voters support clean energy but are skeptical about moving away from fossil fuels. Climate’s effects on weather and on Americans’ wallets outperform other climate messages. All topics covered include renewable energy siting (courtesy of NRDC); rural clean energy attitudes (courtesy of the Rural Climate Partnership); new and different techniques to effectively communicate about climate change (courtesy of the Climate Action Campaign); and Americans' prioritization of different environmental issues and the ways that environmental priorities differ across audiences (courtesy of the Partnership Project Innovation Hub).

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including a new wave of Yale and George Mason’s long-running “Climate Change in the American Mind” survey, new battleground polling on climate change and clean energy in the presidential race, and new polling on sustainable aquaculture.

Steady majorities of voters say that clean energy and global warming should be high priorities for the President and Congress, and voters overwhelmingly prefer pro-climate candidates over candidates who oppose climate action. By a greater than four-to-one margin, voters would prefer to vote for a candidate for public office who supports action on global warming (62%) over a candidate who opposes action on global warming (15%). 74% of voters support the Inflation Reduction Act after reading a brief description of it. 77% of voters support providing tax rebates to people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels. 74% of voters support tax credits or rebates to encourage people to buy electric appliances, such as heat pumps and induction stoves, that run on electricity instead of oil or gas. 66% of voters support transitioning the U.S. economy from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050. 80% of voters support strengthening enforcement of industrial pollution limits in low-income communities and communities of color that are disproportionately impacted by air and water pollution. 65% of voters support building solar farms in their local area. 58% of voters support building wind farms in their local area.

Misinformation about environmental issues is prominent on social media. This research found the following activity that contained misinformation or negative narratives related to the environment, particularly motivations about the environmental movement (from May 15-21, 2024): 2,000 X posts with more than 10 reposts; 1,000 Facebook posts with more than 10 engagements; 70 TikTok posts; 300 Telegram posts with more than 1,000 views; 90 Truth Social posts with more than 10 retruths; 60 Gab posts with more than 10 reposts. Some topics include “Texas wind turbine graveyard proves green movement isn’t green” and “Jordan Peterson asserts climate science is an appalling scam.”

A growing share of Americans support the Inflation Reduction Act – including nearly half of Republicans – but only about half of Americans report hearing about it. Large majorities support a range of recent health care policies, including capping the cost of insulin, providing free vaccines, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and cracking down on hidden junk fees on prescription drugs. Fewer than a third of Americans report hearing “a lot” about each of the health care policies tested.

This Federal Funding Primer on Climate Justice provides an invaluable roadmap for navigating the maze of funding opportunities provided by Justice40, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The Justice40 Initiative is a requirement of Executive Order 14008 and mandates that 40 percent of the benefits from environmental and climate justice related federal investments go to communities that are disadvantaged, underserved, or overburdened by pollution.