Report · Jun 9, 2026
Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Spring 2026
By Anthony Leiserowitz, John Kotcher, Seth Rosenthal, Emily Goddard, Joshua Ettinger, Teresa Myers, Jennifer Carman, Marija Verner, Julia Fine, Emily Richards, Matthew Goldberg, Jennifer Marlon and Edward Maibach
Filed under: Policy & Politics
1. Global Warming as a Voting Issue
1.1 Most registered voters prefer to vote for a candidate who supports action on global warming.
If given a choice, a majority of registered voters (58%) prefer to vote for a candidate for public office who supports action on global warming, while only 14% prefer to vote for a candidate who opposes action, and 28% say it doesn’t matter either way.
Nearly all liberal Democrats (92%) and a large majority of moderate/conservative Democrats (83%) prefer to vote for a candidate who supports action on global warming. Many liberal/moderate Republicans (40%) also prefer to vote for a candidate who supports action on global warming, while 48% say it doesn’t matter either way. Additionally, although 36% of conservative Republicans prefer to vote for a candidate who opposes action on global warming and 45% say it doesn’t matter either way, 18% prefer to vote for a candidate who supports action.
1.2 Many registered voters want to hear more often from political candidates about efforts to reduce global warming.
About four in ten registered voters (42%) say they would like to hear “much more” or “somewhat more” often from political candidates about efforts to reduce global warming, while 23% say they would like to hear about it “much less” or “somewhat less” often. Additionally, 18% say they would like to hear about efforts to reduce global warming “about the same as [they] do now” and 16% say it doesn’t matter.
A large majority of liberal Democrats (76%) and most moderate/conservative Democrats (62%) say they would like to hear more often from political candidates about efforts to reduce global warming, while few say they would like to hear about it less often (4% and 7% respectively). Conversely, 27% of liberal/moderate Republicans would like to hear less often from political candidates about efforts to reduce global warming, compared with 19% who would like to hear about them more often. Finally, half of conservative Republicans want to hear less often from candidates about these efforts (50%), while fewer want to hear about them more often (11%).
1.3 Many registered voters will only vote for a congressional candidate who supports increasing renewable energy use and/or decreasing fossil fuel use.
More than four times as many registered voters say they will only vote for a congressional candidate who supports increasing the use of renewable energy (31%) rather than decreasing it (7%), while a majority (59%) say it will not be a deciding factor in their vote. A majority of liberal Democrats (62%) say they will only vote for a congressional candidate who supports increasing the use of renewable energy, while only 1% say they will only vote for a candidate who supports decreasing it. About four in ten moderate/conservative Democrats say they will only vote for a candidate who supports increasing the use of renewable energy (39%), while few will only vote for a candidate who supports decreasing it (6%). Large majorities of liberal/moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans (both 76%) say a congressional candidate’s position on renewable energy will not be a deciding factor in their vote.
Moreover, more registered voters say they will only vote for a congressional candidate who supports decreasing the use of fossil fuels (25%) rather than increasing it (14%), while a majority (59%) say it will not be a deciding factor in their vote. A majority of liberal Democrats (57%) say they will only vote for a congressional candidate who supports decreasing the use of fossil fuels, while only 2% say they will only vote for a candidate who supports increasing it. About one-quarter of moderate/conservative Democrats say they will only vote for a candidate who supports decreasing the use of fossil fuels (27%), while fewer will only vote for a candidate who supports increasing it (9%). Majorities of liberal/moderate Republicans (72%) and conservative Republicans (65%) say a congressional candidate’s position on fossil fuels will not be a deciding factor in their vote, with three in ten conservative Republicans saying they will only vote for a candidate for Congress who supports increasing the use of fossil fuels (30%).
