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Poll: The Most Popular Elements of the Biden Administration’s Proposed Budget Include Lowering Health Care Costs and Taxing the Rich

Voters strongly support provisions in President Biden’s budget to close Big Oil tax loopholes and lower energy costs. Roughly three-quarters (77%) support Biden’s proposal to “close tax loopholes that benefit Big Pharma, Big Oil, and wealthy corporations,” including a majority (56%) who strongly support this proposal.

What do Americans want to know about climate change?

Americans are more interested in hearing about solutions to climate change than causes, impacts, or evidence. Yale and GMU find in a new analysis that far more Americans would ask about solutions (44%) than evidence (20%), causes (18%), or impacts (11%). Left-leaning audiences are particularly eager to hear about solutions, but conservative audiences still want to hear about the evidence and causes. Of major political and demographic subgroups, Yale and GMU find that liberal Democrats (71%) are the most likely to say that they would ask solutions-focused questions.

Few report personally benefitting from the Inflation Reduction Act

A steady seven in ten Americans recognize that climate change is happening, including a particularly high percentage of AAPI adults. Americans rate Biden far better than Trump on climate change, but only three in ten say that Biden has made a positive impact on the issue. 67% of Americans say that oil and gas companies are doing too little to address climate change. 58% of Americans say that oil and gas companies have “a lot” of responsibility to address climate change. The majority of Americans (56%) say that the federal government is doing too little to address climate change.

New Polling Shows Voters Strongly Support SEC Climate Risk Disclosure Rule

Voters support the SEC’s new climate risk disclosure rule and widely agree that people should be able to take climate-related risks into account in their investment decisions. Voters say that large companies and corporations should be held accountable for their environmental impacts: four in five (80%) say that large companies and corporations have a responsibility to manage their impact on the environment, including nearly half (46%) who say that companies have “a lot” of responsibility for managing environmental impacts.

EV Ownership Ticks Up, but Fewer Nonowners Want to Buy One

Roughly half of Americans say that they would consider an EV. The percentage of Americans who own EVs has increased in the past year, but so has the share who say that they “would not buy” one. 7% of Americans now report owning an electric vehicle, up three points from last March (4%). The percentage who are “seriously considering” buying an EV has dipped by an equivalent amount, from 12% down to 9%. Taken together, these two shifts suggest that there is a steady share of the population – roughly one-sixth of adults – who either own or are seriously in the market for an EV.

How's IRA doing?

Is the Inflation Reduction Act, passed nearly two years ago, doing what it set out to do? In this episode, Trevor Houser of the Rhodium Group compares the predictions of pre-IRA energy-sector models to the real-world data on clean-energy investment since its passage.

Unlocking Clean Energy Incentives for Underserved Communities

The Inflation Reduction Act provides an unprecedented opportunity to foster more equitable participation in clean energy development and channel resources into historically marginalized communities. Because of the IRA’s Direct Pay provision, nonprofits, and state, local, and Tribal governments can now access tax credits over 10 years for clean energy projects in underserved communities. This democratizes energy, unlocking the potential for diverse entities across the U.S. to own clean energy assets as a wealth-building opportunity.

Experiencing Extreme Weather Predicts Support for Policies to Mitigate Effects of Climate Change

Americans who report experiences with extreme weather are more likely to support pro-climate policies. 62% of Americans support tax credits for families who install rooftop solar or battery storage in their homes. 62% of Americans support increasing investment in energy-efficient forms of public transportation. 60% of Americans support grants to communities to protect them from the impacts of climate change, including drought, heat, and extreme weather. 57% of Americans support forgivable loans for rural communities to improve their energy efficiency.

The attitude-behavior gap on climate action: How can it be bridged?

There is a large gap between people’s interest in climate activism and their self-reported actions. Social norms are linked with increased follow-through. First, there is a big difference between those who say that they “definitely” or “probably” would take an action. Americans who follow through on climate activism tend to feel more social pressure to do so.

Poll: Americans Remain Pessimistic on the Economy and Personal Finances

Voters continue to support the Inflation Reduction Act by a wide margin after learning about it. Voters support the Inflation Reduction Act by a nearly three-to-one margin (68% support / 24% oppose) after reading a brief, one-sentence description of it. And while voters consistently say that they support the IRA, it would be a mistake to assume that they know much about it: polling has consistently found that awareness of the law lags far behind support for it.