This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new national polling on climate change as an issue priority for voters and new polling in Michigan about the state’s energy policies.
HEADLINES
Navigator, Pew – Climate change is once again a top-tier issue for Democratic voters [Navigator Deck, Pew Article]
[MI] Farm Forward + Data for Progress – Michigan voters have much more positive attitudes toward the clean energy industry than the fossil fuel industry, and want the state to hold oil and gas companies more accountable for their pollution [Release, Report, Crosstabs]
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Climate change is one of the main motivators for the Democratic electorate. Media reporting on voters’ “most important issues” continues to obscure that partisans are motivated by different sets of issues, as well as the extent to which climate change has become a core issue for Democratic voters. Recent polls by Navigator and Pew both find that climate change is a top-tier priority for Democratic voters, only slightly behind the economy and abortion. This continues a similar trend that we saw in polls before and after the 2022 midterms, when climate change consistently ranked as one of Democratic voters’ top issue concerns and climate voters formed a vital piece of the Democratic coalition in the election.
Voters have much more good will toward clean energy companies than fossil fuel companies. Farm Forward and Data for Progress find that Michigan voters across party lines have overwhelmingly positive opinions about clean energy companies and mixed attitudes about fossil fuel companies. These findings echo what we’ve seen in national polling, and have a clear link to voters’ policy preferences: while polls consistently show that voters support incentives to boost the solar and wind industries, they widely oppose continued government subsidies for fossil fuel companies.