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
4. The Foreign Pollution Fee Act
4.1 Few registered voters have heard about the Foreign Pollution Fee Act.
The Foreign Pollution Fee Act, proposed by Republican members of the U.S. Senate, would put a fee on products imported into the United States based on the amount of carbon pollution emitted when they were made. The Act would affect major polluters like China and help U.S. companies (which have higher environmental standards) compete.
Few registered voters (2%) have heard either “a lot” or “a moderate amount” about the Act, including 3% of liberal Democrats, 2% of moderate/conservative Democrats, 2% of conservative Republicans, and no liberal/moderate Republicans.
4.2 After reading a brief description of the Foreign Pollution Fee Act, most registered voters support the proposal.
After reading a brief description of the Foreign Pollution Fee Act, a majority of registered voters across the political spectrum (78%) say they support it (26% “strongly support” and 52% “somewhat support”; refer to data tables, p. 58). This includes large majorities of liberal Democrats (87%), moderate/conservative Democrats (83%), liberal/moderate Republicans (83%), and conservative Republicans (69%).
