This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new results from the EPC’s collaborative Community Poll project, a new edition of Yale and GMU’s long-running “Climate Change in the American Mind” study, and new polling on federal tax proposals and the agencies and programs that could be cut.

Headlines

EPC Community Poll – Messaging against recent executive orders on energy and the environment is most effective when it focuses on direct harms to people, particularly higher costs [Briefing Materials, Deck]

Yale + GMU – Steady majorities of Americans continue to say that global warming is happening and caused by humans; Americans connect extreme heat and wildfires to climate change more than other types of extreme weather [Website, Full Report]

The Economist + YouGov – Americans across party lines have positive opinions of the EPA and NOAA, and only one-third want to roll back energy-efficiency regulations on appliances; Musk is falling deeper underwater with the public [Article, Topline, Crosstabs]

Data for Progress + Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) + Groundwork Collaborative – Voters are twice as likely to say that the government should increase than decrease funding for renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs, and a plurality want to reduce tax breaks for fossil fuel companies [Release, Crosstabs]

Key Takeaways

Messaging against the Trump administration’s environmental attacks is most effective if we can credibly connect these actions to higher costs. This was one of the main findings from the latest wave of the EPC’s Community Poll project. Working with partners across the movement, we tested potential responses to five of Trump’s Day One executive orders and actions on energy and the environment. For nearly every topic – including withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, suspending wind energy projects, weakening vehicle standards, and repealing environmental justice programs – message frames that emphasized how the action would increase everyday Americans’ costs were most effective at persuading voters to oppose the action in question.

Voters would much rather cut fossil fuel subsidies than renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs. Data for Progress, the Student Borrower Protection Center, and the Groundwork Collaborative find that the plurality of voters believe that the federal government should be spending less on tax breaks for fossil fuel companies. Meanwhile, voters are more than twice as likely to say that the government should increase funding for renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs than to say that the government should decrease funding for these programs.

As the administration and Congress look to make drastic cuts to environmental protections and clean energy investments to help offset more tax breaks, it’s important to emphasize both how program cuts will harm everyday Americans and who stands to benefit on the other side of the equation. To that end, Data for Progress, the Student Borrower Protection Center, and the Groundwork Collaborative find that large majorities of voters – including many Republicans – say that billionaires, CEOs, and corporations are already paying too little in taxes.

Good Data Points to Highlight

• [Climate Change] 73% of Americans recognize that global warming is happening, including 60% who say that it is caused mostly by human activities [Yale + GMU]
• [Climate Change + Weather] 66% of Americans recognize that global warming is affecting weather in the United States [Yale + GMU]
• [EPA] 61% of Americans have favorable attitudes about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while only 24% feel unfavorably about it [The Economist + YouGov]
• [NOAA] 60% of Americans have favorable attitudes about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while only 10% feel unfavorably about it [The Economist + YouGov]
• [Energy Efficiency] Americans oppose rolling back energy-efficiency regulations for household appliances by a double-digit margin (34% support / 45% oppose) [The Economist + YouGov]
• [Clean Energy + Energy Efficiency] 72% of voters, including 55% of Republicans, have favorable opinions of “renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs” [Data for Progress + SBPC + Groundwork Collaborative]
• [Clean Energy + Energy Efficiency] Voters are more than twice as likely to say that the government should increase than decrease funding for renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects (42% increase / 18% decrease) [Data for Progress + SBPC + Groundwork Collaborative]
• [Fossil Fuel Subsidies] Voters are more than twice as likely to say that the government should decrease than increase tax breaks for fossil fuel companies (18% increase / 43% decrease) [Data for Progress + SBPC + Groundwork Collaborative]