Americans Are United on Climate Solutions
New Poll Shows Democrats, Independents and Republicans Aligned in Support for Key Policies of Green New Deal and other Climate Solutions
Washington, D.C – Americans across party lines are concerned about climate change and majorities support proposals for a variety of solutions, according to a new poll released today by ecoAmerica and Lake Research Partners, “Climate Priorities 2019: American Support for Solutions.” Proposals to rapidly expand clean energy and energy efficiency garner high majority support, as do those that call for providing job training for a new green economy and developing technologies to remove carbon pollution from the atmosphere. The purpose of the poll was to determine American support for key aspects of current and future climate policy proposals, including those featured in the Green New Deal.
ecoAmerica and Lake Research conducted earlier studies showing that a majority (73%) of Americans are concerned about our changing climate and (90%) want Democrats and Republicans to work together on solutions. They found that Americans strongly favor policy proposals to reduce damage to our climate through (87%) grid modernization, (83%) charging corporate polluters a fee for the pollution they create, (81%) energy efficiency, (80%) expanding public transit, and tax credits for (79%) clean energy and (76%) hybrid or electric cars.
“With renewed attention to climate solutions, we wanted to get beyond the label of the ‘Green New Deal’ to understand what Americans think about key aspects of the policies in development, such as transitioning to clean energy, support for jobs training, and how to pay for it,” said Celinda Lake, President of Lake Research Partners. “We find that strong majorities of Americans support climate solutions.”
New data from ecoAmerica and Lake Research Partners’ poll conducted through Ipsos February 16th – 19th, show strong support for policy proposals that remove carbon pollution from the air (79%), provide job training in the transition to a new green economy (74%), and speed up the transition to clean energy (71%). Democrats show the highest levels of support (85%, 85%, 83% respectively), however Independents (79%, 75%, 74% respectively) and Republicans (76%, 61%, 54% respectively) also show majority support for these policies.
When asked specifically about funding climate policies, Americans favored (61%) making polluters pay for the pollution they create and (61%) increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1% of income earners. There was greater intensity, however, in support for increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1% (40% strongly favoring increasing taxes on wealthiest 1% of income earners vs. 27% strongly favoring making polluters pay). Democrats (75%) and Independents (67%) more strongly favor taxing the wealthiest 1% than Republicans (33%).
“Americans nationwide are concerned about the impacts of climate change on their communities, jobs and pocketbooks, and families’ health, and want Democrats and Republicans to work together on solutions,” said Meighen Speiser, ecoAmerica Executive Director. “This new data makes clear what Americans care about and will support, and I hope policymakers will listen to these findings and the American people in rapidly bringing effective policies forward that protect the health, wealth and wellbeing of us all.”
Full findings can be found at https://ecoamerica1234.wpengine.com/research/
The study was designed by ecoAmerica and Lake Research Partners and conducted online in Ipsos’s Omnibus using the web-enabled “KnowledgePanel,” a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the US general population, not just the online population. The survey was conducted February 16th through 19th 2019. All questionnaires were self-administered by respondents in a web-based environment. The margin of error is +/-2.9 percentage points.
About ecoAmerica
Founded in 2006, ecoAmerica is a not for profit organization that builds institutional leadership, public support, and political will for climate solutions in the United States. ecoAmerica helps national mainstream organizations elevate their climate leadership, providing them strategy, tools and resources to demonstrate visible climate leadership, empower climate literacy, engage their constituents, reduce their climate impact, and participate in collective action and advocacy. ecoAmerica.org
About Lake Research Partners
LRP is a leading public opinion and political strategy research firm providing expert research-based strategy for campaigns, issue advocacy groups, foundations, unions, and non-profit organizations.
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