Most registered voters in the US lean favourably towards green energy investment and climate commitments, despite Donald Trump’s blistering attacks.
The POTUS has consistently worked to boost polluting fuels that fry the planet, describing wind and solar power as “the scam of the century” and vowing not to approve any new projects.
He previously argued the concept of global warming was “created by and for the Chinese” to make US manufacturing non-competitive, and referred to wind energy as a “con job” during his trip to Scotland - urging Europe to “stop the windmills”.
Earlier this month, theUS Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also removed all mention of fossil fuels – the main driver of global warming – from its popular online page explaining the causes of climate change. Now it only mentions natural phenomena, even though scientists calculate that the majority of the warming is due to human activity.
Despite the series of rollbacks, a new poll by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication shows that the climate crisis is still a key consideration for US voters.
The nationally representative survey, which consists of 990 registered voters, found that 59 per cent would prefer to vote for a candidate for public office who supports action on global warming.
This was spearheaded by liberal Democrats (95 per cent) and a large majority of moderate/conservative Democrats (82 per cent). However, 42 per cent of liberal/moderate Republicans also said they would prefer a candidate supporting climate action - as well as 21 per cent of conservative Republicans.
41 per cent of surveyed voters said they would like to hear from political candidates about efforts to reduce global warming more often, while 35 per cent said global warming will be a “very important” issue to them in deciding who they will vote for in the 2026 congressional election.
More than 60 per cent of registered voters also think developing sources of clean energy should be a “high or very high priority” for the President and Congress.
In fact, the majority of participants supported a range of policies to reduce carbon pollution, such as restoring soil healthand bolstering green energy.
Even Republicans supported funding more research into renewable energy sources – with 73 per cent of liberal-moderate Republicans and 47 per cent of conservative Republicans backing the drive.
Despite Trump often criticising the appearance of solar and wind farms, 66 per cent of registered voters support transitioning the US economy from fossil fuels to 100 per cent clean energy by 2050.
This includes 96 per cent of liberal Democrats, 86 per cent of moderate/conservative Democrats, 57 per cent of liberal/moderate Republicans, and 26 per cent of conservative Republicans.
In 2015, almost 200 nations, including the US, signed a legally-binding treaty to hold the “increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels” and pursue efforts to “limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels”.
Dubbed The Paris Agreement, the treaty is often seen as one of the biggest environmental commitments in history. However, just two years later, Trump initiated the process to withdraw from the treaty.
For the first time in 30 years, the US had no official representation at this year’s UN COP talks.
However, the poll found that 77 per cent of registered voters support US participation in the Paris Climate Agreement, with 64 per cent opposing Trump’s decision to pull out of the commitment.
While the majority of Republicans still support Trump’s controversial withdrawal, 35 per cent say they “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose the decision.
The survey shows there is still substantial support for climate-damaging activities such as drilling and mining fossil fuels on public land in the US (45 per cent) and drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (33 per cent).
However, a much larger proportion of the voter base is aware of the potential benefits of green energy. Almost half (49 per cent) think that renewables could improve economic growth and provide new jobs, while 65 per cent think global warming is affecting the cost of livingin the US.
*The poll consists of 47 per cent Democrats, 42 per cent Republicans, 9 per cent Independents, and 3 per cent of registered voters who didn’t select any political party but are still registered to vote.