Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

5. Energy Production as an Economic Issue

5.1 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 (48%; +6 percentage points since we last asked this question in Fall 2024) think policies intended to transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy will improve economic growth and provide new jobs, while 29% (-6 percentage points) think they will have the opposite effect, reducing economic growth and costing jobs, and 21% 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.

Opinion is sharply divided along political lines; majorities of liberal Democrats (84%) and moderate/conservative Democrats (60%) think clean energy policies will have a positive impact on the economy and jobs. By contrast, more liberal/moderate Republicans think such policies will have a negative impact (36%) than a positive impact (30%), and 58% of conservative Republicans think the policies will have a negative impact (12 percentage points lower than in Fall 2024, when 70% thought so), while only 17% think they will have a positive effect.