Successful advocacy starts with having a crystal-clear vision of a target audience. It is essential to have a core focus on the audience and the alignment of the communication plan with the organization's goals. While it’s tempting to follow trends because everyone else is doing it, take a pause before you jump onto every possible platform. Try to methodically assess each channel to determine its potential value and compatibility with your organization's objectives. Approach engagement with a solid database awareness of what the organization wants to accomplish. In our increasingly connected world, adopting a multi-channel strategy is integral to reaching diverse audiences across multiple platforms. Creating a persona helps clarify the tone, tool, and outcome that the organization wants to achieve because you have a specific individual to aim for rather than a general group. Following best practices for your campaigns also means respecting your contacts and authorities that monitor communications.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on Americans’ top environmental concerns, climate attitudes, and reactions to the ongoing rollback of public lands protections.

Most Americans say that the country is doing too little to protect the environment, though the partisan divide is larger than ever. Nearly three in five Americans (57%) say that the country is doing too little to protect the environment, which is an increase of seven points since last year (50%). Additionally, over the past year, the percentage saying that the country is doing too much to protect the environment has dropped by nearly half (from 19% in 2024 to 11% now). The percentage of Democrats saying that the country is doing “too little” to protect the environment (91%) is higher than ever before in Gallup’s tracking going back to 2001, while the percentage of Republicans saying that the country is doing too little on the environment (22%) is the lowest that it’s ever been in Gallup’s tracking.

Americans, including Trump voters, widely oppose the sell-off or closure of public lands. 74% of Americans, including 64% of Trump voters, oppose the closure of public lands in an effort to reduce federal spending. 71% of Americans, including 61% of Trump voters, oppose selling existing public lands to the highest private bidder. 63% of Americans oppose layoffs of staff from federal agencies that manage public lands in an effort to reduce federal spending. 62% of Americans oppose reducing funding to the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other public land management agencies.

Water pollution remains Americans’ top environmental concern. Record-high numbers of Americans see climate change as a “serious threat” to them personally and say that its effects are already happening. 63% of Americans recognize that the effects of global warming have already begun, a record high in Gallup’s tracking. 48% of Americans expect that global warming will pose a “serious threat” to them in their lifetime, a record high in Gallup’s tracking. 57% of Americans say that the country is doing too little to protect the environment, compared to just 11% who say that the country is doing too much.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on Americans’ energy and vehicle preferences, new polling on polluter accountability amid Trump’s push to grant oil and gas companies legal immunity for their climate damages, and new polling of AAPI Americans.

Climate change is one of Democrats’ clearest issue strengths with AAPI Americans, who widely disapprove of Trump’s handling of the issue. Nearly four in five AAPI adults (78%) say that they have already felt “major” impacts from climate change or expect to in the future, compared to a national average of 69% among all U.S. adults in other AP-NORC polling this year. More than any other major issue, AAPI Americans trust Democrats over Republicans to handle climate change and environmental issues. AAPI Americans are 41 points more likely to say that they trust Democrats (56%) than Republicans (15%) to better handle climate and the environment, which is the largest advantage for either party on any issue that was included in the survey. 71% of AAPI Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of climate change–ranking it on par with the economy (71%) and trade negotiation with other countries (71%) as his weakest issues with AAPI Americans.

Trump’s executive order to shield polluters from accountability runs counter to public opinion, as bipartisan majorities say that fossil fuel companies should help pay for climate damages and voters widely oppose legal immunity for the industry. Around seven in ten voters (69%), including nearly nine in ten Democrats (87%), two-thirds of independents (68%), and half of Republicans (52%), agree with the following statement: “Oil and gas companies knew about climate change impacts but misled the public. These companies should pay for climate-related damages.” Accordingly, the overwhelming majority of voters (71% support / 23% oppose) say that they support “requiring oil and gas companies to pay a share of costs for climate-related damages”–including majorities of Democrats (86%), independents (74%), and Republicans (55%).

Americans continue to prefer clean energy over fossil fuels, despite a recent surge in support for fossil fuels among Republicans; public support for nuclear energy is at a near-record high. By a 17-point margin, Americans say that the U.S. should emphasize the development of alternative energy such as wind and solar power to solve the nation’s energy problems (56%) rather than the production of more oil, gas and coal supplies (39%). Republican support for fossil fuels has reached a new high, positioning them far away from the center of the electorate on the issue. The dip in Americans’ preference for clean energy is driven by Republicans, 79% of whom now say that the U.S. should prioritize fossil fuels–a record high in Gallup’s tracking. This is likely a case of rank-and-file Republican voters following Trump’s lead as he has become more aggressive in expanding oil and gas production. By contrast, 92% of Democrats say that the country should prioritize clean energy sources. Independents also favor clean energy over fossil fuels by a wide margin (61% clean energy / 32% fossil fuels), leaving Republicans far apart from the rest of the country in their energy preferences.

A steady one-half of Americans say that they’re open to purchasing an electric vehicle; hybrids have more appeal than fully electric vehicles, especially among Republicans. Roughly half of Americans (51%) now say that they would consider purchasing an EV, including 3% who report that they already own one, 8% who say that they are “seriously” considering one, and 40% who “might” consider one in the future. While Gallup found an eight-point drop in Americans’ openness to EVs between 2023 (59%) and 2024 (51%), interest appears to have stabilized over the past year. While demographics such as age and education are linked to EV interest, political beliefs overshadow every other factor. Interest in EVs is relatively higher among younger Americans aged 18-34 (64%) and college graduates (61%), and lower than average among Americans aged 55+ (41%) and those without college degrees (46%).