Report · Jan 14, 2021
Politics & Global Warming, December 2020
By Anthony Leiserowitz, Edward Maibach, Seth Rosenthal, John Kotcher, Jennifer Carman, Xinran Wang, Matthew Goldberg, Karine Lacroix and Jennifer Marlon
Filed under: Policy & Politics
4. Support for Infrastructure Investments
4.1. Across political lines, registered voters support a major investment in the nation’s infrastructure.
About seven in ten registered voters (68%) support a major government investment in the nation’s infrastructure. Majorities of Democrats (73%), Independents (76%), and Republicans (63%) support infrastructure investment.
Only one in twenty registered voters (5%) oppose a major investment in infrastructure, while one in four (25%) are neutral.
4.2. Across political lines, registered voters’ highest priorities for infrastructure improvements are roads/bridges and water systems, followed by the electricity grid.
If Congress invests in the nation’s infrastructure, nearly all registered voters, across political lines, prioritize using the money to repair and improve the nation’s roads, bridges, and highways (93%) and to repair and improve public water supply systems (90%).
About eight in ten would allocate funds to modernize and upgrade the nation’s electricity grid (84%) and repair and improve dams and levees (81%). About seven in ten would allocate funds to repair and improve National Parks (74%). About six in ten or more would allocate funds to install solar panels and wind turbines across the country (65%), modernize and upgrade the nation’s oil pipelines and natural gas lines (65%), and to repair and improve the nation’s ports and harbors (61%). About half would allocate funds to repair and improve the nation’s airports (53%).
Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans differ most in their preference for investments to install solar panels and wind turbines across the country (86% of liberal Democrats favor, versus 35% of conservative Republicans), build a national system of electric vehicle charging stations (63% of liberal Democrats favor, versus 18% of conservative Republicans), and build a national high-speed rail system (66% of liberal Democrats favor, versus 32% of conservative Republicans). Notably, about seven in ten conservative Republicans (72%) support investments to modernize and improve oil pipelines and gas lines, compared with only 55% of liberal Democrats.
