A hard-fought presidential campaign has yet to persuade majorities of voters that the president’s landmark spending initiatives have made their lives better. New polling found that fewer than 3 in 10 voters said President Joe Biden’s big legislative policy changes had improved their lives and communities. Voters’ attitudes about massive domestic spending initiatives have either barely budged or slightly dimmed since April, despite six more months of campaigning by both parties in the run-up to next week’s election. People were more likely than they were last spring to say they don’t know what effect the laws have had. Self-described political independents are significantly more bullish on the president’s climate law than they were six months ago, the survey found. And the number of voters who called the Biden-backed laws harmful was significantly lower than those who said the legislation had either benefited them or had a mixed impact: just 24% said the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has “positively” affected them, while 19% said it has had negative effects and 24% called it a mix.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on Americans’ policy positions on energy and environmental issues, new polling on Americans’ beliefs about the presidential candidates’ stances on energy and the environment, new polling and message testing about the recent hurricanes and disinformation, and a new large-scale survey of young Americans’ climate beliefs.

This podcast episode tells the story of how a powerful grassroots movement, ambitious lawmakers, and Governor Tim Walz turned Minnesota into a climate leader. To tell Minnesota’s success story, the podcast spoke to Aimee Witteman, the Vice President of Investment and Network at Rewiring America, Chris Conry, the Managing Director of 100 Percent MN, and Rep. Jamie Long, the Majority Leader of the Minnesota State House of Representatives. Over the past few years, Minnesota has done more on climate than perhaps any other state, anchored by a nation-leading clean electricity standard that requires 100% carbon-free power by 2040. The center of gravity for state-level climate action isn’t California, or Washington, or Massachusetts. It’s Minnesota.

Small, diffuse changes at the household and community level can complement big policy shifts towards emissions reductions. 42% of US energy-related emissions come from homes and vehicles. This resource featured a conversation between Kevin Green, Vice President for Rare’s Center for Behavior & the Environment and Sarah Lazarovic, Vice President of Communications and Creative Strategy at Rewiring America. “Of course, we need to rework huge policy interventions to make this feasible for people. But also as humans, there are many things that we not only can do, but have to do to make this happen,” according to Lazarovic. When she swapped out her gas furnace for a heat pump, she brought her household emissions down by 75%. Part of the confusion among Americans is that there are so many solutions presented to people, that many people begin to experience cognitive fatigue and choice overload.

Following recent hurricanes, voters support a “climate superfund” bill that would help address climate change impacts and increase funding for FEMA. 70% of voters support a “climate superfund” bill after reading a brief description of it. While voters are nearly twice as likely to say that they feel favorably than unfavorably about FEMA’s response to the recent hurricanes (60% favorable / 32% unfavorable), there is a deep partisan split here as well. More than four in five Democrats (84%) and half of independents (52%) have a positive view of FEMA’s response, while most Republicans rate FEMA’s response negatively (39% favorable / 57% unfavorable). Just over half of voters (51%) say that FEMA’s funding should be increased, while 28% say that its funding should be kept the same and just 12% want to reduce funding for the agency.

Most voters say that they’re concerned about the possible rollback of climate policies and other Project 2025 proposals. Three in five voters (62%) are concerned about rolling back policies that are aimed at preventing climate change, including roughly two in five (39%) who are “very” concerned about possible rollbacks to climate laws. Around three-quarters of voters (77%) say that they’ve heard about Project 2025, though most (55%) say that they’ve heard only “a little” about it. Those who have heard about Project 2025 are six times as likely to say that they’ve heard mostly negative information about the plan (63%) than to say that they’ve heard mostly positive things (10%) about it.

Polling 201: utilizing public opinion research in your communications ca

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on recent hurricanes and the government’s disaster response, new polling on renewable energy and grid expansion, and new state polls about energy issues in Pennsylvania, California, and Texas.

Voters in California and Texas both overwhelmingly agree that their states should be doing more to encourage solar power; voters see clear benefits of solar power for grid reliability, the economy, and costs. In California: Solar power – 85% agree that their utility should be using more; Wind power – 78%; Offshore wind power – 72%; Natural gas power – 57%; Nuclear power – 52%. In Texas: Solar power – 73% agree that their utility should be using more; Wind power – 69%; Natural gas power – 67%; Nuclear power – 50%; Coal power – 40%. Accordingly, large majorities in both California (85%) and Texas (71%) agree that their state’s policymakers should be doing more to encourage the use of solar power. In both states, there is a potent argument that solar can help to make an outdated electric grid more resilient and reliable.

Voters across party lines support FEMA but believe that the federal government could do more to help with disaster relief in general. Just under half of voters (49%) say that the increasing frequency and strength of hurricanes in the U.S. is primarily the result of climate change. Meanwhile, four in ten (42%) say that hurricanes are becoming more frequent and severe because of natural changes in the environment. Democrats overwhelmingly blame climate change for the increasingly frequent and severe hurricanes in the U.S. (71%) and Republicans overwhelmingly blame natural changes in the environment (67%). Around two-thirds of voters have favorable opinions of FEMA (67% favorable / 19% unfavorable), including majorities of Democrats (76%) and Republicans (60%). Still, slightly more than half of voters (52%)–including a plurality of Democrats (47%) and the majority of Republicans (57%)–say that the federal government is not providing enough support to Americans for disaster relief.