This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on climate change in the presidential race, fossil fuel accountability, and PFAS + new qualitative research among Latino voters and new data on the long-term trends in Americans’ climate attitudes.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new national polling on oil and gas accountability, clean energy and infrastructure, and young voters, plus new polling in Florida on the state’s approach to climate change. 

HEADLINES

Voters rank oil and gas as the country’s greediest industry, and continue to blame oil and gas companies more than anyone else for high gas prices. 56% of voters have unfavorable opinions of oil and gas companies, while just 34% feel favorably about them. Voters feel almost as negatively about oil and gas companies as they do about pharmaceutical companies (34% favorable / 59% unfavorable).

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on polluter accountability, Big Oil misinformation, climate resilience, and the Inflation Reduction Act.

HEADLINES

Voters widely agree that corporate polluters should be held accountable, and two-thirds support a “climate superfund” bill. Voters are especially angered to hear that the industry knew about its pollution decades ago and still lied to the public about it. 81% of voters agree that entities with the largest emissions should be most responsible for reducing their carbon footprint and climate impact. 72% of voters are angry to hear that oil companies “discovered that their products were polluting the environment decades ago and have lied to the public since to protect their bottom line”.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including newly released polling on the Sackett v. EPA decision and clean water protections, new polling on oil and gas accountability, and a new analysis on the gap between Americans’ interest in climate activism and their actual behaviors.

HEADLINES

Voters distrust fossil fuel companies and the politicians that they fund, and want to see fossil fuel companies held accountable for their pollution. 84% of voters are concerned about oil and gas companies making large profits while consumers face rising energy bills. 78% of voters agree that “oil and gas companies that knew about the polluting impact of burning fossil fuels, but that intentionally misled the public about it, should be held accountable”.

Voters overwhelmingly want stronger accountability for polluters, including compensation for damages to the environment and local communities. Most disapprove of the court decision to block an investigation of environmental injustices in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”.

In communications about President Biden’s pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects, voters are most swayed by messaging about health. The most effective and convincing way to talk about this pause is in the context of the pollution risk methane gas facilities pose and the health consequences from them. While other frames are still useful, the pollution-focused message was chosen overall and by virtually all subgroups as the best message on the topic.

Communities across the U.S. are taking Big Oil to court to hold these corporations accountable for their deception and make polluters pay. States and municipalities across the U.S. have filed lawsuits that seek to hold major oil and gas corporations accountable for deceiving the public about their central role in the climate and plastic pollution crises. This resource displays a map of where these lawsuits have come from.