Voters don’t want Republicans in Congress to roll back clean energy policies, and are particularly angered by rollbacks that would make home energy-efficiency investments more expensive. 71% of voters say they would be upset if Republicans in Congress make it more expensive for American families to make their homes energy-efficient. 47% say Republicans should not roll back key components of the clean energy plan (compared to 41% who say they should).

Voters overwhelmingly support the clean energy transition, including clean energy projects in their own communities. Key messaging and language findings include the resonance of “clean energy jobs,” connecting H.R. 1 to Big Oil CEOs, and making sure that “no community is left behind”. 79% of voters support building new power lines in their community that transmit electricity generated by clean energy. 78% of voters support building new solar panel farms in their community. 77% of voters agree with this statement: “We don’t have to choose between building our economy and protecting our environment. We can do both.” 73% of voters support building new wind turbines in their community. 72% of voters agree with the statement that “as we move to clean energy, we need to make sure that no community is left behind, including the communities of color that have been harmed the most by pollution from fossil fuels.” 67% of voters agree that the U.S. government should take strong action to combat climate change.

Americans say that extreme weather and scientists have the greatest influence on their climate attitudes; most say they’ve been affected by extreme weather in recent years. 72% of Americans recognize that climate change is happening, compared to just 12% who deny it. 55% of adults report experiencing extremely hot weather or a heat wave in the last 5 years, and 45% say severe cold weather or severe winter storms. People report that extreme weather events and scientists have the most impact on their climate change views—which is true among both Republicans and Democrats.

Voters see clean energy investments as the most important actions against climate change. In terms of climate impacts, voters are most worried about extreme weather, food shortages, and the cost of living. 52% of all voters believe that fossil fuel companies and large corporations are most responsible for climate change. 45% believe it’s the fault of federal lawmakers and just 31% believe it’s the fault of “yourself.” 33% of people believe that investing in clean energy is one of the top 3 things to do to mitigate climate change—the highest percentage of any action—while 17% say expanding public transit, 12% say banning new fossil fuel projects, and 11% say investing in electric vehicles.

Steady majorities of Americans say that global warming’s effects are here and human-caused, but concerns over environmental problems have been trending down since their spike under Trump. By a 62%-36% margin, Americans say that increases in Earth’s temperature over the last century are more due to the effects of pollution from human activities than to natural changes in the environment.

For weather information to effectively reach the public, that information must be received, understood, trusted, and prompt a response from the audience. There is no singular method that can be used to reach all audiences – practitioners should vary their strategies to reach multiple demographics. Bilingual and Spanish-speaking broadcasters are playing a critical role in communicating climate and weather information with underrepresented groups. When you have risk information to share with your audience, consider following the “27-9-3” model: limit your message to contain no more than 27 words, which can be delivered in 9 seconds, and has just 3 main ideas. Audiences’ perceptions of risk are context-dependent and will vary substantially – there is no such thing as a “general audience” when it comes to risk communication. This resource includes a video recorded panel of 3 experts on these topics.

Democratic voters are more aligned on climate change than on any other major issue, as nearly two-thirds say that you can’t be a “good Democrat” if you deny climate change. 65% of Democrats say that you can’t be a good Democrat if you do not believe climate change is a major problem (compared to 29% who say you can).

The majority of Americans say that climate change is affecting their local community. Most want the government to encourage clean energy but not fossil fuels. 67% of Americans agree that large businesses and corporations are doing too little to help reduce the effects of global climate change. 66% of Americans say that the federal government should encourage the production of wind and solar power. 61% of Americans agree that climate change is having at least “some” impact on their local community. 58% of Americans agree that their state elected officials are doing too little to help reduce the effects of global climate change.

78% of Democrats and just 20% of Republicans prioritize the environment over the economy. This 58-point party gap is the largest in the trend dating back to 1984. Overall, 52% of Americans prioritize the environment and 43% prioritize economic growth.

Most Americans would consider purchasing an electric vehicle, though there are large differences in interest by partisanship. Americans’ adoption of electric vehicles is proving to be slow, as relatively few currently own one (4%) or are seriously considering purchasing one (12%). Another 43% of U.S. adults say they might consider buying an electric vehicle in the future, while 41% unequivocally say they would not. While about four in 10 U.S. adults think using EVs helps address climate change “a great deal” (12%) or “a fair amount” (27%), roughly six in 10 believe it helps “only a little” (35%) or “not at all” (26%). Current ownership of electric vehicles among partisans is 6% for Democrats, 4% for independents and 1% for Republicans. Democrats (22%) are also far more likely than both Republicans (1%) and independents (12%) to say they are seriously considering purchasing an EV. The majority of Democrats, 54%, say they may consider it in the future. Meanwhile, a substantial majority of Republicans, 71%, say they would not consider owning an electric vehicle.