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Politics & Global Warming, November 2016


5. Support for Infrastructure Investments

5.1. Across political lines, registered voters support a major investment in the nation’s infrastructure.

Seven in ten registered voters (69%) support a major government investment in the nation’s infrastructure. Majorities of Democrats (75%, 82% of liberal Democrats), Independents (58%), and Republicans (67%, 66% of conservative Republicans) support a major investment in the nation’s infrastructure.

Only one in twenty (5%) registered voters oppose a major investment in infrastructure, while one in four (25%) are neutral.

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5.2. Across political lines, registered voters’ highest priorities for infrastructure improvements are roads/bridges and water systems, followed by the electricity grid.

If Congress were to invest in the nation’s infrastructure, nearly all registered voters, across political lines, would prioritize using the money to repair and improve the nation’s roads, bridges, and highways (94%) and repair and improve public water supply systems (92%).

Eight in ten or more 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 (71%) and install solar panels and wind turbines across the country (69%). More than six in ten would allocate funds to repair and improve the nation’s ports and harbors (67%), modernize and upgrade the nation’s oil pipelines and natural gas lines (64%), and repair and improve the nation’s airports (62%).

Democrats and Republicans differ most in their preference for investments to install solar panels and wind turbines across the country (81% of Democrats favor, versus 54% of Republicans), and modernize and improve oil pipelines and gas lines (75% of Republicans favor, versus 54% of Democrats).

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Survey respondents were then asked what percentage of the total infrastructure investment they would like to see allocated to each option they chose. Across the political spectrum, the largest allocation was for improving the nation’s roads, bridges, and highways (20% of the budget allocated, on average, among all registered voters), followed by repairing and improving public water supply systems (14%).

The next largest allocations – at about ten percent of the infrastructure budget, on average – were to modernize and upgrade the nation’s electricity grid (11%) and install solar panels and wind turbines across the country (10%).

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