Report · Dec 17, 2025
Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2025
By Anthony Leiserowitz, John Kotcher, Seth Rosenthal, Emily Goddard, Jennifer Carman, Marija Verner, Teresa Myers, Joshua Ettinger, Julia Fine, Emily Richards, Matthew Goldberg, Jennifer Marlon and Edward Maibach
Filed under: Policy & Politics
7. Support for Transitioning from Fossil Fuels to Clean Energy
7.1 Most registered voters think the U.S. should use more renewable energy and less fossil fuels in the future.
A majority of registered voters (66%) say that, in the future, the U.S. should use more renewable energy sources (solar, wind, and geothermal) than it does today, while only 12% say the U.S. should use less. Large majorities of liberal Democrats (95%) and moderate/conservative Democrats (80%) say the U.S. should use more renewable energy sources, as do 56% of liberal/moderate Republicans and 36% of conservative Republicans. In all four of these political groups, more people say the U.S. should use more renewable energy than say it should use less.
A majority of registered voters (55%) also say that, in the future, the U.S. should use less fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) than it does today, while only 26% say the U.S. should use more. Large majorities of liberal Democrats (87%) and moderate/conservative Democrats (69%) say the U.S. should use less fossil fuels. More than twice as many liberal/moderate Republicans say the U.S. should use less fossil fuels (43%) than say it should use more (17%). Conservative Republicans are the only group in which more people say the U.S. should use more fossil fuels (39%) than say it should use less (23%).
