Like many Americans, Ron Theusch is getting more fearful about climate change.
A resident of Alden, Minnesota, Theusch has noticed increasingly dry and mild winters punctuated by short periods of severe cold — symptoms of a warming planet.
As he thinks about that, future generations are on his mind. “We have four children that are in their 20s,” the 56-year-old truck driver and moderate Democrat said. “It’s like, what’s our grandkids’ world going to be like?”
A brand new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 45% of adults within the United States say they’ve grow to be more concerned about climate change over the past yr, including roughly 6 in 10 Democrats and one-quarter of Republicans.
President Joe Biden’s signature climate change policy, the Inflation Reduction Act, was intended to handle a few of those fears, investing billions in incentives for consumers and businesses to maneuver toward clean energy sources. Biden has pointed to this climate agenda as a serious presidential success during his run for reelection. But the poll suggests that although the law has already affected some Americans, it isn’t widely known amongst the final population — and will not be the electoral boost Biden is in search of.
About one-quarter of Americans say tax credits for renewable energy projects corresponding to wind power have benefited people like them up to now, with similar numbers for incentives for corporations to fabricate clean energy technologies within the U.S. somewhat than abroad, tax credits for people to add solar panels to their homes, or subsidies and tax credits for electric vehicles and energy-efficient appliances like heat pumps. Those numbers are fairly substantial for a law that passed lower than two years ago, where the advantages largely hinge on big-ticket purchases like cars or home improvements.
Promoting electric vehicles has also been a serious focus for the Biden administration, and 15% of U.S. adults say electric vehicles have had impact on them personally.
“I totally agree with the act because it’s done so many things for people,” said Charles Lopez, a 65-year-old liberal Democrat from the Florida Keys. “They help everybody … I’m not ready for a full electric, but I’ll get there when there’s enough charging stations.”
But the individuals who say they’ve benefited from the law are disproportionately Democrats. And while only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults think the person tax credits and subsidies have hurt people like them, those provisions of the law aren’t yet registering with nearly all of Americans — roughly one-quarter say those credits haven’t made a difference to people like them. Nearly 4 in 10 in each instance don’t know enough to have an opinion about them.
“I still think that, as much as we’d like for them to be implemented in a way that we can actually see results, it’s not really happening in my eyes,” said Sandra Sherman, a 62-year-old resident of Vero Beach, Florida, who identifies as a liberal Democrat. “With solar panels, although it seems like a really good idea, I see very few people in the area in Florida that I live in that actually have them.”
Generally, U.S. adults also aren’t confident the IRA will have an effect even in additional time. The poll found that only between 23% and 35% of U.S. adults say the law’s key components will eventually help address climate change. About 2 in 10 think the essential provisions of the law will make no difference in addressing climate change, and about one-third do not know enough to say.
“A lot of the public feeling on it is, ‘Well something needs to be done,’ but not necessarily knowing what needs to be done or not even necessarily having strong feelings about what needs to be done,” said David Weakliem, a University of Connecticut professor emeritus.
Biden still has a bonus over his opponent, former President Donald Trump, on the subject of climate change generally. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults and two-thirds of Democrats have “a lot” or “some” trust in Biden on climate change. That includes 29-year-old Jaime Said, a moderate Republican.
Biden has “talked about it more and he has mentioned a few plans of things he wants to do. So even if he doesn’t do them, at the very least he’s thinking about them. That’s kind of headed in the right direction,” Said, a medical student in Panama City, Florida, said.
“I know already, right off the bat, (Trump is) not going to address it much,” Said added. “That’s why I don’t have too much faith in him doing anything about it.”
Only about 3 in 10 say they’ve “a lot” or “some” trust in Trump with regard to addressing climate change.
But certainly one of Biden’s major pitches for the IRA — that it will help the American economy and U.S. employees — doesn’t appear to be resonating. According to the poll, only about 2 in 10 Americans say the law has done more to assist the U.S. economy, while about one-quarter think it’s done more to harm the economy, and about half think it either made no difference or do not know enough to say.
And broadly, a majority of Americans say the federal government is currently doing “too little” to handle climate change. They generally agree it’s essential for the federal government to support climate solutions. About half say it’s extremely or very essential to limit using products and technologies that harm the environment, and nearly half say it is important for the federal government to pass stricter environmental laws and regulations. About 4 in 10 say it is important for the federal government to construct a national network of public charging stations for electric vehicles, which is one other Biden administration priority.
Most say it’s extremely or very essential for the federal government to speculate in recent, environmentally friendly technologies, and most, like 38-year-old Julio Carmona, a health program associate who lives in Stratford, Connecticut, and identifies as a moderate Democrat, say the identical about enforcing current environmental regulations.
“We can all do our part when it comes to saving energy, recycling and all those other things,” said Carmona. “But if the big corporations aren’t doing it, I think that, for me, would be where the government should start.”
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The poll of 1,204 adults was conducted April 4-8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
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___ The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely answerable for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a listing of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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