Voters consistently support the idea of a Green New Deal when they learn what it would contain. Nearly two-thirds of voters (65%) – including majorities of Democrats (85%) and independents (64%), as well as a plurality of Republicans (45%) – support a Green New Deal when provided with the information below. Support for the Green New Deal also stands up to scrutiny.

7 in 10 Americans express some level of interest in buying or leasing an electric-only vehicle (EV). Among Americans who said they expect their next vehicle to be new, 38% said they would at least seriously consider getting an EV if they were to get a vehicle today. This however highlights a significant gap between consideration and actual purchases, as only around 7% of new vehicle purchases in 2023 were battery electric vehicles. Deeper analysis of the survey findings showed that overall consumer experience with EVs is very low.

Voters widely support “responsible investing” rules from the SEC that require businesses to disclose climate-related financial risks. Few are hearing negative information about ESG. Just over seven in ten voters (71%) – including majorities of Democrats (80%), independents (69%), and Republicans (64%) – say that they support “responsible investing” based on the description below. Majorities also support the proposed SEC rule to require disclosure of climate-related financial risks when they learn about the rule.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on climate attitudes across generations and new polling on Americans’ top issue priorities.

Gen Z and Millennials both outpace other generations in their climate concern. Majorities of every generation say that they’re at least “somewhat” concerned about climate change, including overwhelming majorities of Gen Z Americans (85%) and Millennials (78%) as well as around three in five Gen X Americans (60%), Baby Boomers (59%), and Americans from the Silent/Greatest generations (63%).

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including a new update of Yale’s Climate Opinion Maps with estimates of climate attitudes down to local geographies, new polling on Americans’ top issue concerns, and new polling on the electricity grid and clean energy transition.

New Yale Climate Opinion Maps provide updated estimates of Americans’ climate attitudes down to the state, county, metro area, and congressional district levels. While most polling on climate attitudes is conducted at either the national or state levels, Yale’s Climate Opinion Maps utilize national polling data to estimate public attitudes down to smaller geographies – providing advocates with a unique set of data to hold policymakers at various levels of government accountable.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including a new analysis of the impact of voters’ climate attitudes on the 2020 presidential election results, new polling on electric vehicles, new polling on competitiveness with China on clean energy, and a new analysis of climate justice attitudes across Yale and George Mason’s “Six Americas” segments.

Support for climate justice and recognition of climate disparities vary widely across global warming’s “Six Americas”. More climate-conscious Americans are both much more likely to recognize existing climate disparities and much more likely to support the goals of climate justice than Americans who are less concerned about global warming. However, even among the segments who are most attuned to the issue of climate change, most are not hearing about “climate justice” as a concept. The Alarmed and Concerned segments (who make up 56% of the U.S.

Polling on the 2020 presidential election suggests that climate change cost Republicans 3-4 points in the election, as pro-climate independents in particular overwhelmingly supported Biden over Trump. Roughly two-thirds of 2020 voters (67%) rated climate change as a “somewhat” or “very” important issue and that three-quarters of these voters (77%) supported Biden. U.S. adults trust Democrats more than Republicans on climate change, on average. This issue advantage for the Democrats (26 points, in a recent survey) is one of the largest that either party has on any issue.