This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on federal funding cuts, the Trump administration’s early actions on energy and the environment, and Americans’ concerns about climate change and extreme weather.

Trump’s early actions on climate change and clean energy are unpopular; Americans particularly disapprove of halting wind energy projects, as they believe that stopping clean energy projects will hurt job growth. 57% of Americans oppose the Trump administration’s action to halt new wind energy projects. 57% of Americans agree that the Trump administration will hurt job growth by stopping clean energy projects. 61% of Americans agree that the Trump administration’s plan to increase oil and gas drilling will harm air and water quality. 60% of Americans agree that the Trump administration’s plan to increase oil and gas drilling will increase pollution and harm people’s health. Independents oppose the halting of wind energy projects by a 22-point margin (39% support / 61% oppose), oppose the IRA funding pause by a 20-point margin (40% support / 60% oppose), and oppose the Paris Agreement withdrawal by a 12-point margin (44% support / 56% oppose).

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling about federal funding cuts, including to national parks and forests, and new polling about carbon dioxide removal (CDR).

Majorities of Americans continue to say that they’ve been impacted by extreme weather and that climate change was a factor behind it, and most are concerned that climate change will increase property insurance premiums. 72% of Americans recognize that climate change is happening. 72% of Americans who self-report experience with extreme weather in recent years say that climate change was a cause. While Democrats (89%) and independents (72%) overwhelmingly attribute their experiences with extreme weather to climate change, Republicans are more split (43% climate change was a cause / 55% climate change was not a cause). Most also believe that climate change will have a major impact on their lives in specific ways, such as affecting the air quality where they live (65%), their personal health (56%), and the availability of water in their area (55%). Majorities say that they’re either “extremely” or “very” concerned that climate change will increase property insurance premiums for households (59%) and increase energy costs for households (55%).

Most voters are concerned about the extent of recent government funding cuts and layoffs, and there are a wide variety of salient examples to point to–including cuts to disaster relief. 67% of voters are concerned about the Trump administration cutting disaster relief for events like wildfires, hurricanes, and tornadoes, including 44% who are “very concerned” about these cuts. On balance, voters say that Trump’s cuts to government spending make them feel more positively than negatively about him (42% more positive / 36% more negative). However, by double digits, voters say that Elon Musk’s involvement in the administration (33% more positive / 45% more negative) and the way that Trump has fired workers and attempted to close government agencies (33% more positive / 44% more negative) have more of a negative than positive impact on how they view Trump. While most voters also say that they’re at least “somewhat” concerned about firing park rangers at the National Park Service (58%), there is relatively less intensity behind this concern (35% “very concerned”) than for cutting disaster relief or for the other top-testing items in the survey.

Some Americans recognize the health harms of global warming, but many do not. Many Americans have thought (32%) or worried (28%) a “great deal” or “moderate amount” about the health harms of global warming, similar to the percentages in 2014. 39% of Americans think Americans’ health is being harmed by global warming “a great deal” or “a moderate amount,” an 8 percentage point increase from 2014. However, only 16% think their own health is being harmed by global warming a “great deal” or a “moderate amount.” 47% of Americans understand that some groups in the U.S. are more likely than others to experience the health harms of global warming, +13 points since 2014. When asked to name groups more likely than others to be affected, Americans most commonly identify low-income people (18%, +12 points since 2014), older adults (7%), people with health conditions (6%), and people of color (6%, +5 points). Most Americans think coal (65%) harms people’s health, and many think natural gas does (38%, +9 points since 2018). 39% of Americans think federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) should do more to protect people from health harms related to global warming.

The Public Environmental Data Partners are committed to preserving and providing public access to federal environmental data. They are a volunteer coalition of several environmental, justice, and policy organizations, researchers across several universities, archivists, and students who rely on federal datasets and tools to support critical research, advocacy, policy, and litigation work. To gather insights on what data to preserve, they reached out to our networks, which consist largely of environmental justice groups and networks, state and local government climate offices, and academic researchers. They compiled a large list of federal databases and tools, and prioritized them based on their relative impact, their confidence that we could archive them, and the relative effort it would take to obtain and archive them. Examples include: access to FEMA’s Future Risk Index, EPA EJAM, and more.

Around two-thirds of voters are concerned about staffing cuts at the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service, with just one in ten believing that funding for national parks and forests should be cut. 66% of voters are concerned about recent staffing cuts at the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service after hearing about them. 75% of voters, including 72% of Republicans, have favorable opinions of the National Park Service. 74% of voters, including 74% of Republicans, have favorable opinions of the U.S. Forest Service.

The plurality of Americans say that Trump’s budget and staff cuts have gone too far, and Americans are increasingly concerned about Musk’s conflicts of interest. 57% of Americans are concerned about Musk using DOGE to benefit his companies and personal interests. The plurality of Americans (42%) say that the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the staff and budgets of federal agencies have “gone too far,” compared to just 17% who say that they haven’t gone far enough. 75% of Americans say that funding for the National Park Service should be expanded or kept the same, while just 11% say that the agency should be reduced or eliminated.

Voters know virtually nothing about carbon dioxide removal (CDR), but warm to it quickly when exposed to more information. Voters support the Carbon Dioxide Removal Investment Act by a 68%-19% margin after reading a brief description of it. Among voters who have any familiarity with CDR (including all those who have heard at least “a little” about it), impressions of it are overwhelmingly positive (56% favorable / 16% unfavorable). And after reading a description, around two-thirds of voters (65% favorable / 15% unfavorable) – including majorities of Democrats (70% favorable), independents (66%), and Republicans (57%) – have favorable opinions of CDR.