Most Americans Approve of Government-Led Climate Action, but Support for Some Policies is Cooling
💡 What’s the story?
In a new survey of American opinions on climate, a research team from Stanford University, Resources for the Future (RFF), and the survey research firm ReconMR has found that Americans widely support government action to tackle climate change—but support for some specific policies that reduce emissions has dropped since 2020.
This survey, part of the Climate Insights 2024 series, examines American opinions on specific federal government policies related to consumer incentives, carbon pricing, regulations, and tax incentives for companies.
🌎 What are some key findings?
- Americans are cooling on clean transportation: 62 percent of respondents favor government action to increase the fuel efficiency of automobiles, down from 72 percent in 2020. Similarly, 46 percent of respondents want the government to give tax breaks to encourage, or otherwise require, companies to build electric vehicles, a decline from 60 percent in 2015.
- 72 percent of respondents believe that the US government should offer tax breaks to utilities that produce renewable energy. This is a marked decline from the 85 percent who believed this in 2020.
- A growing minority of Americans believe that climate action will hurt the economy: 36 percent believe that climate action will hurt the US economy (up from 29 percent in 2020), and 34 percent believe it would hurt their state’s economy (up from 24 percent in 2020).
- 84 percent of respondents are in favor of taxing foreign companies for importing products that are associated with more greenhouse gas emissions than a comparable US product. This is the largest majority that the research team saw in this survey installment.
- 52 percent of respondents favor permitting reform policies to speed up the approval process for power plants that generate electricity from renewable energy.
Author Perspective
“Even though we see fewer Americans supporting climate policies than in 2020, sizable majorities continue to want more done to deal with climate change. Policymakers should rest assured that if they pursue policies that support clean energy and lower emissions, most Americans will be on their side.”
—Jon A. Krosnick, RFF University Fellow and Stanford University Professor
📊 What is Climate Insights?
The Climate Insights survey is the result of a long-standing polling partnership led by researchers at Stanford, RFF, and ReconMR. This series examines American public opinion on issues related to climate change through rigorous national surveys of random samples of American adults. This year’s reports represent a survey of 1,000 American adults who were interviewed between October 16, 2023, and February 23, 2024, by ReconMR.
Several more reports will be released in the coming months and will cover topics such as American opinions on environmental justice, areas of partisan agreement, and more. The first installment analyzed American understanding of the fundamentals of climate change and its threat to society.
📚 Where can I learn more?
For more information, read the report, Climate Insights 2024: American Climate Policy Opinions, by Jon A. Krosnick (Stanford and RFF) and Bo MacInnis (Stanford). Use our interactive data tool to explore the survey findings in more detail.
You can hear more of Krosnick’s thoughts on the survey series and this report’s findings in this short video.
Stay tuned for more installments in this survey series.
Resources for the Future (RFF) is an independent, nonprofit research institution in Washington, DC. Its mission is to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement. RFF is committed to being the most widely trusted source of research insights and policy solutions leading to a healthy environment and a thriving economy.
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed here are those of the individual authors and may differ from those of other RFF experts, its officers, or its directors. RFF does not take positions on specific legislative proposals.
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