Do Americans support or oppose subsidies for fossil fuels?

In his new proposed federal budget, President Obama today called on Congress to repeal more than $4 billion a year in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, arguing that these “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies…impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to address the threat of climate change."

As of November 2011, a large majority of Americans (70%) also opposed federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry (coal, oil, and natural gas), including majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents:

Source: Public Support for Climate & Energy Policies in November 2011

Are Americans Angry at Wall Street Bankers? Do They Support the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protests?

December 17, 2011 marked three months since the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Acknowledging the impact of social movements across the world (from the Middle East to Wall Street), Time Magazine named “The Protester” as its 2011 Person of the Year.  In this Climate Note, we examine what Americans from different political parties think about the Occupy Wall Street protests and how angry they are at Wall Street.

In a national survey completed in November 2011, a large majority of Democrats (83%) and Independents (74%) supported the Occupy Wall Street protests, with less support among Republicans (42%) and Tea Party members (32%). 

Large majorities of all groups, however, were somewhat to extremely angry at Wall Street bankers, including Democrats (78%), Independents (81%), Republicans (59%) and Tea Party members (65%). 

Climate Note: Do Americans support an international treaty on climate change?

On December 11 at the Durban (South Africa) Conference on Climate Change, the world agreed  to extend the Kyoto Protocol and begin negotiations on a new global treaty that will require all countries (developed and developing) to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

In a national survey completed in November 2011, we found that a large majority of Americans (66%) support signing an international treaty requiring the US to cut emissions 90% by 2050:

Breaking the result down by political party (among registered voters), we found that large majorities of Democrats (81%) and Independents support such a treaty (61%), while almost half of Republicans support such a treaty (49%).

Source: Public Support for Climate & Energy Policies in November 2011

Climate Note: Do Americans connect climate change and extreme weather events?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) today released a special report on the influence of climate change on extreme weather events. In the United States, Americans have endured a record-setting series of extreme weather events in 2011, including the Mississippi floods, record high summer temperatures, and severe drought in Texas and Oklahoma. In a November 2011 national survey, we found that a majority of Americans believe global warming made the following events worse:

For more information:

IPCC (2011) The Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation

Climate Communication (2011) Current Extreme Weather and Climate Change

Climate Note: Partisan Views of Climate Change

On Tuesday, November 2, the United States votes in the mid-term elections. Climate change and climate change policy have become hot political issues in this election, with many Republican and some Democratic candidates campaigning against cap-and-trade legislation or calling climate change itself into question. Here we take a quick look at the views of Democrats, Republicans and Independents on global warming, drawing from our most recent national survey.

For more survey details, see the report: Americans’ Knowledge of Climate Change

Climate Note: American Support for Regulating CO2 as a Pollutant

On Thursday, June 10, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on a resolution to take away the EPA's authority to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant, which President Obama has threatened to veto. As of June 1, however, large majorities of registered voters, including Republicans, Independents, and Democrats, supported regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

For more details, see the full report: Public Support for Climate & Energy Policies in June, 2010