A majority of American voters support investments in green energy and commitments to climate action, even though the government led by President Donald Trump positions itself against renewables and regards climate change as an invention.
Last September, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Trump took the podium to declare that climate change is one of the greatest lies in human history and that abandoning fossil fuels in favor of green energy is “economic suicide”.
Now, a survey conducted by research centers at Yale University and George Mason University reveals what appears to be a misalignment between the government and public opinion.
With a sample of 900 registered voters, of whom 47% identify as Democrats, 42% as Republicans and 9% independents, 61% believe that the development of clean energy sources should be a priority for the President and for the United States Congress (US Congress).
Almost half of those surveyed say that combatting global warming should be one of the government’s and lawmakers’ top priorities, and 35% say that this issue will be “very important” in the decision they will make in the elections to Congress scheduled for next year.
The survey also shows that 59% of American voters say they prefer to vote for a candidate for public office who supports actions to combat global warming. Twenty-eight percent say they will only vote for a candidate to Congress in 2026 who supports increasing the use of renewable energy, and 26% who will support only a candidate who supports reducing fossil fuel use.
Less than half of those surveyed are in favor of expanding oil and gas exploration in the United States, on land or offshore, and 75% support renewable energy production on public lands in the country.
Despite the cuts that the Trump administration has made to the budgets of research centers and government agencies regarding scientific research on climate change, 77% of those surveyed in this poll support increasing funding for renewable energy research and 66% believe that the American economy should be completely fossil-fuel-free, powered 100% by renewable energy, by 2050.
One of the measures Trump took in the early days of his second term was to remove information and references to climate change, and especially to human contribution to that phenomenon, from government websites and public agencies.
Here too, there appears to be disagreement, since, according to the survey, 77% of respondents oppose banning federal agencies from disseminating information about global warming, and the same percentage oppose ending public research on that topic.
Another milestone of the Trump presidency was the announcement of the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, but 77% of respondents say they support the agreement and 64% say they oppose the President’s decision.
The report points to a dissonance between the government’s stance and public opinion on environment and climate, and especially to a fragmentation of the Republican electorate, the party that backs Trump, with regard to the energy transition and the climate crisis.
