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Politics & Global Warming, December 2020


3. Energy Production as an Economic Issue

3.1. Most registered voters think policies that promote clean energy will improve economic growth and create jobs.

A majority of registered voters (56%) think policies that promote clean energy will improve economic growth and create jobs, while about three in ten (29%) think it will have the opposite effect, reducing growth and costing jobs, and 14% think it will have no impact either way.

Opinion is sharply divided along political lines – large majorities of liberal Democrats (89%) and moderate/conservative Democrats (73%), and about half of Independents (54%) think clean energy policies will have a positive impact on the economy and jobs, while about four in ten liberal/moderate Republicans (42%) and seven in ten conservative Republicans (69%) think they will have a negative impact.

3.2. Most registered voters think the clean energy industry will create more good jobs than the fossil fuel industry.

About six in ten registered voters (61%) think increasing production of clean energy in the U.S. will produce more new jobs than will increasing fossil fuel production, while about four in ten (38%) think the opposite (that increasing fossil fuel production will create more jobs than will increasing clean energy production).

Large majorities of liberal Democrats (89%) and moderate/conservative Democrats (74%) and about six in ten Independents (63%) think clean energy production will produce more good jobs, while liberal/moderate Republicans are about evenly split, and about seven in ten conservative Republicans (71%) think increasing fossil fuel production will create more good U.S. jobs.