This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on environmental and energy issues in the presidential race, new polling about Americans’ attitudes and beliefs about different energy sources, and new polling about government funding for clean infrastructure projects.

HEADLINES

YouGov – Harris supporters are much more likely than Trump supporters to say that energy/environment is an important issue to them; while Harris supporters tend to prioritize climate change, Trump supporters tend to prioritize oil and gas development [Article]

ecoAmerica – Americans are more supportive of U.S. investment in renewables than in any other source of energy; only half recognize natural gas a polluting energy source [Website, Report, Topline]

Data for Progress – Voters overwhelmingly support government investment in clean infrastructure projects, and don’t want funding to go to bad actors with histories of pollution [Article, Crosstabs]

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Americans continue to trust Harris by a wide margin over Trump on environmental issues, particularly climate change, but are more divided on energy issues. YouGov finds that voters trust Harris far more than Trump to handle the environment and climate change, as has been the case since she entered the race. The picture around energy is more mixed, however, as voters trust Harris much more on renewable energy production and trust Trump much more on producing oil and gas. Additionally, voters are split closely down the middle on which candidate will do a better job of handling energy affordability.
• There are widespread misconceptions that “natural” gas is a clean energy source. ecoAmerica finds that only half of Americans can correctly say that natural gas is responsible for unhealthy air pollution and climate change, far less than for other fossil fuels such as oil and coal. Previous research has shown that the word “natural” in the term “natural gas” contributes to misperceptions that it’s a clean energy source, and we therefore recommend using the terms “methane gas” or “fracked gas” instead.

GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT

• [Clean Energy] 72% of Americans say that the U.S. should spend more on developing wind and solar energy over the next few years, more than for any other energy source [ecoAmerica]
• [Clean Energy] 67% of voters support new funding through the IRA and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for clean infrastructure projects, like solar and carbon capture [Data for Progress]