Six extremely popular climate policies » Yale Climate Connections

According to recent research by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (publisher of this site) and the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University, the vast majority of registered voters support specific policies to combat climate change.

Here is a summary of these results.

• Support for farmers in storing carbon dioxide. Voters across ideological lines like the idea of ​​federal funding that helps farmers improve the ability of soil to absorb and store carbon, with 86% of survey respondents strongly or somewhat supporting the idea. Notably, this was the only climate policy to gain approval from voters identifying as conservative Republicans (71% in favor).
• National vocational training program. As we transition away from fossil fuels in energy production, thousands of jobs will follow suit. Seventy-seven percent of voters support a nationwide program to train coal, gas and oil industry workers for renewable energy jobs.

• Tax credits for electric and photovoltaic vehicles. Seventy-seven percent of voters support tax breaks for people who buy electric vehicles or solar panels for their homes. This is one of the most high-profile policies resulting from the Inflation Reduction Act, a federal law passed in August 2022 that includes significant investments in clean energy production in the US.

• Tax credits for electrifying heating and cooking. In a similar vein, 74% of respondents agreed to tax credits or rebates to help offset the cost of replacing oil or gas-burning household appliances. This applies, for example, to heat pumps or induction furnaces.

• CO2 regulation. Moving from carrot to stick, 74% of voters also support the idea of ​​making carbon dioxide a regulated pollutant.

• No more fossil fuels. Most voters actually dream of a zero-emission future: 66% of registered voters support transitioning the U.S. economy from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050. Just 23% of conservative Republicans supported the idea, the lowest result of any policy in the poll.

Solid support from Democrats; mixed results among Republicans

The figure above, taken from the report, illustrates differences in opinions on climate policy depending on political worldview. Political ideology was defined independently by each survey respondent who chose one of the above categories. Democrats strongly support all of the climate policies outlined in the study. Republican voters, however, were divided in their political preferences. Conservative Republicans stand out from all other groups in their lack of support for any measures other than federal funding to help farmers store carbon in the soil.

In contrast, moderate Republicans expressed strong support for each of the policies – and in fact, support for many policies among moderate Republicans was closer to the position of moderate Democrats than to the position of conservative Republicans.

This finding suggests that mainstream views in the U.S. may be coalescing toward agreement on climate solutions. Efforts to seriously reduce climate-warming pollutants have only just begun, and future progress depends on broad and sustained public support. These data indicate that decision-makers have a chance to continue building cross-party agreement.

Learn more

The spring 2024 survey covers many aspects of climate policy and can be viewed in its entirety on the Climate Change and American Mind websites. The website also includes previous results from a twice-yearly survey.

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