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
6. Energy Production and Global Warming as Economic Issues
6.1 About half of registered voters think policies intended to transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy will improve economic growth and provide new jobs.
About half of registered voters (49%) think policies intended to transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy will improve economic growth and provide new jobs, while 27% think they will have the opposite effect, reducing economic growth and costing jobs, and 23% think they will have no impact either way.The full text of the survey item and response categories are: Please indicate which one of these statements comes closest to your own views – even if it is not exactly right: Overall, government policies intended to transition away from fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) and toward clean energy (solar, wind) will… (a) Improve economic growth and provide new jobs; (b) Have no impact on economic growth or jobs; (c) Reduce economic growth and cost jobs.
Majorities of liberal Democrats (81%) and moderate/conservative Democrats (68%) think clean energy policies will have a positive impact on the economy and jobs. By contrast, about equal percentages of liberal/moderate Republicans think such policies will have a positive impact (34%) versus a negative impact (33%), and 60% of conservative Republicans think the policies will have a negative impact, while only 14% think they will have a positive effect.
6.2 About two-thirds of registered voters think global warming is affecting the cost of living in the United States.
About two-thirds of registered voters (65%) think global warming is affecting the cost of living in the United States at least “a little.” Majorities of liberal Democrats (88%), moderate/conservative Democrats (77%), and liberal/moderate Republicans (58%) think so, as do 42% of conservative Republicans.
