This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on Americans’ policy positions on energy and environmental issues, new polling on Americans’ beliefs about the presidential candidates’ stances on energy and the environment, new polling and message testing about the recent hurricanes and disinformation, and a new large-scale survey of young Americans’ climate beliefs.

HEADLINES

YouGov – Majorities of Americans support a range of climate-friendly policies, with particularly strong support for increasing penalties on corporate polluters, growing the clean energy workforce, and investing in disaster preparedness; most can correctly say that VP Harris supports climate and clean energy policies while Trump doesn’t [Topline + Crosstabs]

Climate Power + Data for Progress – Voters are familiar with the disinformation over the Biden-Harris administration’s hurricane response; effective rebuttals include how lies hurt recovery efforts [Hurricane Disinfo Test Results Memo, Hurricane Disinfo Response Guide, Poll Memo, Poll Crosstabs]

Data for Progress – Following recent hurricanes, voters support a “climate superfund” bill that would help address climate change impacts and increase funding for FEMA [Article, Crosstabs]

[Youth] The Lancet – Young Americans continue to show deep concern about climate change and say that the issue will impact their major life decisions, such as where to live and whether to have children [Axios Article, Open Access Paper]

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Hurricane disinformation needs to be rebutted. Research commissioned by Climate Power finds that disinformation about the federal response to recent hurricanes is breaking through in a real way and even hurting VP Harris’s standing with voters. Polling and message testing by Climate Power, OpenLabs, and Data for Progress identifies two particularly strong messaging lanes to rebut this disinformation: that lies being spread by Trump are dangerous and hurt recovery efforts, and that the Project 2025 plan would dismantle FEMA with dangerous consequences for disaster response.

Americans are generally aware of the contrast between Harris and Trump on climate and energy issues, but many still don’t associate Harris with her most popular environmental policies. YouGov finds that most Americans can correctly say that Harris supports pro-environmental policies such as expanding clean energy, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and imposing tougher penalties on polluting companies. Meanwhile, Americans don’t believe that Trump supports these policies but do recognize that he wants to increase fossil fuel production and allow more drilling on federal land. The survey also finds that Americans are more likely to say that they themselves support certain environmental policies than to believe that Harris supports them – including penalizing corporate polluters and hiring thousands of Americans for projects in clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience.

GOOD DATA POINTS TO HIGHLIGHT

• [Polluter Accountability] 78% of Americans support imposing tougher penalties on companies causing environmental damage [YouGov]
• [Resilience] 75% of Americans support increasing the federal government’s preparedness for climate-related disasters [YouGov]
• [Climate + Jobs] 71% of Americans supporting hiring thousands of Americans to work on projects in clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience [YouGov]
• [Clean Energy] 60% of Americans support expanding tax credits for renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, with just 23% opposed [YouGov]
• [Climate Action] 56% of Americans support cutting greenhouse gas emissions to half of 2005 levels by 2030, with just 23% opposed [YouGov]
• [Extreme Weather + Climate Change] 61% of voters say that extreme weather events are happening because of climate change [Climate Power + Data for Progress]
• [Extreme Weather] 59% of voters recognize that extreme weather events are increasing in frequency [Climate Power + Data for Progress]
• [Climate Superfund] 70% of voters support a “climate superfund” bill after reading a brief description of it [Data for Progress]