We are pleased to release a new report “Politics & Global Warming” based on our latest national survey, conducted after the 2020 election. With climate change a top priority of the incoming Biden-Harris administration, climate champions nominated to lead multiple federal agencies and programs, and with narrow Democratic control of the U.S. House and Senate, there will likely soon be multiple opportunities to reduce carbon pollution and accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy.
Overall, we find that large majorities of registered voters – often across party lines – support numerous policies to reduce carbon pollution and promote clean energy. These include:
Global Warming and Energy Policies
- 82% support providing tax rebates to people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels.
- 82% support funding more research into renewable energy sources.
- 80% support generating renewable energy (solar and wind) on public land in the U.S.
- 78% support providing federal funding to put solar panels on the roofs of public schools.
- 74% support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.
- 72% support transitioning the U.S. economy (including electric utilities, transportation, buildings, and industry) from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050.
- 67% support requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a tax on the carbon pollution they produce, and using that revenue to reduce other taxes (such as the federal income tax) by an equal amount (i.e., a revenue-neutral carbon tax).
- 66% support requiring electric utilities to produce 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by the year 2035.
- 66% support eliminating all carbon pollution created by coal, oil, and natural gas from the U.S. economy by 2050.
|
|
Energy Conservation and Efficiency
- 88% support providing tax incentives or rebates to homeowners, landlords, and businesses to make existing buildings more energy efficient.
- 86% support setting stronger energy efficiency standards for new buildings.
- 83% support setting stronger energy efficiency standards for appliances.
-
80% support providing tax incentives or rebates to homeowners, landlords, and businesses to purchase appliances that can be powered without burning fossil fuels (such as electric water heaters, electric heat pumps, and electric induction cooktops).
- 78% support setting stronger fuel efficiency standards for cars, trucks, and SUVs.
- 67% support installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the U.S. by 2030.
- 44% support requiring that, by 2030, all new cars, trucks, and SUVs sold in the U.S. are electric vehicles.
Conservation and Restoration Policies
- 86% support providing federal funding to help farmers improve farming practices to protect and restore the soil so it absorbs and stores more carbon.
- 85% support re-establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps, which would employ workers to protect natural ecosystems, plant trees in rural and urban areas, and restore the soil on farmlands.
- 83% support creating a jobs program that would hire unemployed coal workers to safely close down old coal mines and restore the natural landscape.
- 83% support creating a jobs program that would hire unemployed oil and gas workers to safely close down thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells, which are a source of water and methane pollution.
- 76% support setting aside 30% of America's lands and waters for conservation by 2030.
- 68% support increasing federal funding to low-income communities and communities of color who are disproportionally harmed by air and water pollution.
|
|
International Cooperation on Global Warming
- 75% support U.S. participation in the Paris Climate Agreement.
- 79% support the next U.S. president hosting a meeting of the leaders of large industrialized nations to urge them to do more to reduce global warming.
- 79% say that it is in America's national interest to increase diplomatic and trade pressure on China to reduce its carbon pollution and 74% say the U.S. should cooperate with China to reduce global warming.
- 64% say that the U.S. should reduce greenhouse emissions regardless of what other countries do.
Declaring Climate Change a National Emergency
- 56% support a U.S. president declaring global warming a national emergency if Congress does not act.
Energy Production as an Economic Issue
- 61% say that increasing production of clean energy in the U.S. will produce more new jobs than will increasing fossil fuel production.
- 56% say that policies to promote clean energy will improve economic growth and create jobs; 29% say these policies will reduce growth and cost jobs.
Support for Infrastructure Investments
- 68% support a major government investment in the nation’s infrastructure, including:
- 93% support investments to repair and improve the nation’s roads, bridges, and highways and 90% support investments to repair and improve public water supply systems.
- 84% support investments to modernize and upgrade the nation’s electricity grid and repair and 81% support investments to improve dams and levees.
- 74% support funds to repair and improve National Parks.
- 65% support funds to install solar panels and wind turbines across the country, 65% to modernize and upgrade the nation’s oil pipelines and natural gas lines, and 61% to repair and improve the nation’s ports and harbors.
|
|
Acting on Global Warming
- 70% say corporations and industry should do more to address global warming.
- Half or more say citizens (63%), the Republican Party (62%), the U.S. Congress (62%), their local government officials (56%), the Democratic Party (56%), their governor (55%), the media (50%), and they themselves (50%) should do more to address global warming.
These and many other important findings are available in the full report. You can also read an article about these findings in today’s New York Times.
As always, thanks for your interest and support!
|
|
Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia 22032
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
