In case you missed it, last week CRES released its 2022 poll of likely American voters’ attitudes on energy.
Americans know the partisan divide has been widening for years. However, voters across party lines continue to express overwhelming support for commonsense, all-of-the-above policies to reduce emissions that cause climate change—ranging from tax incentives, to reducing regulatory red tape, to holding foreign countries to their climate commitments.
Additionally, voters remain steadfast in their support for the federal government taking more action to address climate change (60 percent), including accelerating the development and use of clean energy (70 percent).
The poll found that energy issues are the least divisive amongst parties, which provides an opportunity for Republican leaders to win over independent voters by tying energy, economic and environmental issues together. More than two-thirds say they would have a more favorable impression of elected officials who encourage the development of clean energy to protect the environment and reduce air pollution.
Furthermore, across party lines, voters increasingly said climate change has directly impacted their lives—increasing from 39 percent in 2021 to 53 percent in 2022.
“Voters want realistic climate solutions and support energy and climate policies authored and championed by many Republicans in Congress. Alternatively, our data show Republican and independent voters oppose heavy-handed policies typically backed by Democrats such as higher fossil fuel taxes and the elimination of natural gas from our energy mix,” said CRES President Heather Reams.
In particular, Americans believe natural gas is affordable, plentiful, reliable, clean and will be an important part of building an energy-independent, “all of the above” energy mix for decades to come.
Accordingly, voters oppose bans on natural gas—when informed banning natural gas would result in energy shortages and rising prices, opposition amounted to 71 percent. Independent and Republican voters especially oppose policies taxing or eliminating natural gas.
Six policies stood out with greater than 80 percent support: providing tax credits or direct assistance to homeowners to replace home appliances and windows (87 percent); holding foreign countries, including China, responsible for their emission reduction pledges (86 percent); providing tax credits for individuals and companies that invest in clean energy generation in the U.S. (85 percent); reducing regulatory and bureaucratic obstacles to use new technologies and build clean energy infrastructure (82 percent); providing tax incentives to businesses to capture carbon emissions (81 percent); and increasing federal government investment in research and development to accelerate the adoption of battery storage technologies (81 percent).
You can view the complete polling results here and read last week’s press release here.
