Resources

Search below for resources covering the intersection of climate engagement, social science and data analytics.

RESULTS

Americans are growing less convinced that electric vehicles are supposed to be better for the planet than gas cars. The share of car-buying Americans who believe that has gone down by 5 percentage points in the last two years, from 63% to 58%. People who say they are interested in buying an EV, known in the auto industry as "EV considerers," remain solidly convinced that EVs have an environmental benefit. EV sales growth in the U.S. has slowed — in fact, the automotive data giant J.D. Power predicts that EVs as a share of new-car sales just peaked for the year at 9.2%.

Overwhelming majorities nationally and in key swing states support maintaining tax credits for EVs, clean energy, and energy efficiency while limiting offshore drilling. 88% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for residential clean energy production. 89% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for new energy-efficient heating or air conditioning systems. 86% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for energy-saving improvements, such as fuel-efficient lighting, doors, windows, or insulation. 70% of Americans support the EPA’s standards requiring new cars and light trucks to get 20-30% more miles per gallon by 2027. 80% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for used EVs, and 79% support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for new EVs. 76% of Americans say that the government should either maintain or decrease the current amount of offshore drilling, while only 23% want to increase it.

Research & Articles
07-03-2024

An analysis of the top 100 EV-related posts on US political pages found that the vast majority of them were critical of the technology. Between January 1 and June 1, 81% of the Facebook posts analyzed were related to sales setbacks, performance or charging issues, or other negative press. These posts had over 1.3 million interactions, accounting for 79% of total interactions related to EVs. Posts related to automakers or car rental companies rolling back their commitments to selling EVs made up over a third of this content. Another popular topic focused on performance issues sometimes exacerbated by cold weather, which made up 20% of posts related to EVs. Nearly three quarters (74%) of EV-related posts on nonaligned pages (neither left-leaning or right-leaning) had a negative framing. These posts generated 83% of all interactions on EV-related posts from nonaligned pages. Out of the top 100 posts related to EVs on right-leaning pages, 95% were negative. Of the negative posts, 43% were related to automakers or car rental companies rolling back their commitments to selling EVs -- these posts earned over 477,000 interactions.

Research & Articles
04-08-2024

Roughly half of Americans say that they would consider an EV. The percentage of Americans who own EVs has increased in the past year, but so has the share who say that they “would not buy” one. 7% of Americans now report owning an electric vehicle, up three points from last March (4%). The percentage who are “seriously considering” buying an EV has dipped by an equivalent amount, from 12% down to 9%. Taken together, these two shifts suggest that there is a steady share of the population – roughly one-sixth of adults – who either own or are seriously in the market for an EV.

Environmental Polling Roundup - March 29th, 2024

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
03-29-2024

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling and research on the EPA's vehicle emissions rules, utilities, and people’s emotional responses to climate change.

 

HEADLINES

Research & Articles
03-27-2024

The closer we get to the 2024 presidential election, the more sketchy information out there about electric cars. GOP polling has shown that attacking electric vehicle (EV) policy has been “amazing” for Republicans. Even the New York Times op-ed section has been fooled by EV arguments. In a recent column, Ross Douthat complained that Biden’s new EPA regulations tell American consumers: “If you like your [gas-powered] car, I don’t want you to keep it.” This is, at best, highly misleading.

Environmental Polling Roundup - February 23rd, 2024

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
02-23-2024

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on voters’ relative trust in the two parties to handle climate change and the environment, as well as new polling and consumer data about electric vehicles.

 

HEADLINES

Republican EV drivers outnumber Democratic EV drivers in many states, based on voter file data and vehicle records. In nine of the 31 states and DC that register voters by party, for example, more Republican voters are linked to records of electric vehicles – including insurance and repair records – than Democrats. Republicans, independents and third-party voters associated with electric vehicles also exceed Democrats in 24 of those states. There is a mix of market factors, such as consumer awareness, infrastructure, incentives and availability, that drive sales.

Research & Articles
02-07-2024

Cultural attitudes drive the partisan split on electric vehicles, as Democrats and Republicans disagree more about whether electric vehicles are for “people like them” than on any of the specific benefits or downsides of EVs. In this new survey of Americans with household incomes of $50,000 or more (intended to approximate the market for new cars in the U.S.), Democrats and Republicans have very similar answers when asked to name their two greatest concerns about owning an electric vehicle.

Research & Articles
02-06-2024

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.