Drawing on a representative sample of the U.S. adult population (n = 1,031; including the 896 registered voters whose data are included in this report), these findings describe how registered voters view a variety of domestic climate and energy policies. The survey was fielded from April 25 – May 4, 2024.
This executive summary mostly presents the results for all registered voters, while the main text of the report also breaks the results down by political party and ideology.
Global Warming as a Voting Issue
- 62% of registered voters would prefer to vote for a candidate for public office who supports action on global warming. This includes 97% of liberal Democrats, 81% of moderate/conservative Democrats, 62% of Independents, and 47% of liberal/moderate Republicans, but only 17% of conservative Republicans.
- About four in ten registered voters (39%) say a candidate’s position on global warming will be “very important” when they decide who they will vote for in the 2024 presidential election.
- Of 28 issues asked about, global warming is the 19th most highly ranked voting issue among registered voters (based on the percentage saying it is “very important”).
- When then asked to choose their most important voting issue, three percent of registered voters chose global warming, making it the 12th highest-ranked most important issue.
Global Warming and Clean Energy as Government Priorities
- 52% of registered voters think global warming should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress.
- 63% of registered voters think developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress.
Policies to Reduce the Pollution that Causes Global Warming
Majorities of registered voters support a range of policies to reduce carbon pollution and promote clean energy. These include:
- 86% support federal funding to help farmers improve practices to protect and restore the soil so it absorbs and stores more carbon.
- 77% support a national program to train people who work in the fossil fuel industry for new jobs in the renewable energy industry.
- 77% support tax rebates to people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels.
- 74% support regulating carbon dioxide (the primary greenhouse gas) as a pollutant.
- 74% support tax credits or rebates to encourage people to buy electric appliances, such as heat pumps and induction stoves, that run on electricity instead of oil or gas.
- 66% support transitioning the U.S. economy from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050.
Energy Production
- 79% of registered voters support generating renewable energy on public land in the U.S.
- 53% support expanding offshore drilling for oil and natural gas off the U.S. coast.
- 48% support drilling and mining fossil fuels on public land in the U.S.
Building Climate-Friendly Energy Production and Distribution Infrastructure
Many registered voters support building clean energy infrastructure in their local area. This includes:
- Solar farms: 65%
- Wind farms: 58%
- High-voltage power lines to distribute clean energy: 54%
- Electric vehicle charging stations: 51%
- Nuclear power plants: 35%
Climate Justice Goals
Large majorities of registered voters support a variety of policies that promote climate justice goals. These include:
- 86% support creating more parks and green spaces in low-income communities and communities of color.
- 80% support strengthening enforcement of industrial pollution limits in low-income communities and communities of color that are disproportionately impacted by air and water pollution.
- 78% support federal funding to make buildings in low-income communities more energy efficient.
- 73% support increasing federal funding to low-income communities and communities of color who are disproportionately impacted by air and water pollution.
Corporate Disclosure
Large majorities of registered voters support policies to require publicly traded companies to disclose their climate impacts by doing the following:
- Disclosing how much carbon pollution they produce (79%).
- Disclosing how global warming could affect their profits (73%).
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA)
On August 16, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. The law aims to curb inflation, reduce prescription drug prices and the cost of health insurance, modernize the Internal Revenue Service, and invest in U.S. clean energy production.
- 39% of registered voters have heard either “a lot” (11%) or “some” (28%) about the IRA.
- After reading a short description of the IRA, 74% of registered voters support it.
- About half or fewer registered voters think the IRA will help future generations of people (54%), the health of Americans (51%), low-income communities and communities of color (48%), the economy and jobs in the U.S. (45%), their family (37%), or them personally (33%).
Energy Production as an Economic Issue
- 70% of registered voters either think policies that promote clean energy will improve economic growth and create jobs (50%) or that they will have no impact on growth or jobs (20%).
- 61% of registered voters think the clean energy industry will create more good jobs than the fossil fuel industry.
Who Should Act?
- Half or more registered voters say the following should do more to address global warming: Corporations and industry (69%), the Republican Party (62%), the U.S. Congress (62%), citizens themselves (61%), the Democratic Party (56%), their local government officials (56%), their governor (54%), President Biden (51%), the media (51%), and they themselves (49%).
- Only 15% of registered voters think the U.S. government is responding well to global warming.
Political Actions to Limit Global Warming
- 54% of registered voters say they would sign a petition about global warming if a person they like and respect asked them to, although only 20% say they have signed such a petition in the past year.
- If asked by a person they like and respect, 32% say they would volunteer their time to an organization working on global warming (compared with 7% who say they have done so in the past year), 32% say they would donate money to an organization working on global warming (compared with 16% who say they have done so in the past year), and 31% say they would contact government officials about global warming (compared with 11% who say they have done so in the past year).
- 24% say they would support an organization engaging in non-violent civil disobedience against corporate or government activities that make global warming worse, 13% say they would personally engage in non-violent civil disobedience, and 4% say they would be willing to get arrested as part of such an action.
- 2% say they are currently participating in a campaign to convince elected officials to take action to reduce global warming, while 7% say they would “definitely” join such a campaign and 19% would “probably” join one.
Collective Efficacy
- 49% of registered voters are at least “moderately confident” that people like them, working together, can affect what the federal government does about global warming, and 46% are confident that they can affect what corporations do about global warming.