Voters Support Making Oil and Gas Companies Pay a Share of Climate Costs Caused by Pollution
By Kevin Hanley
As the United States reckons with the impacts of climate change, lawmakers are debating how to pay for the growing costs of climate damages in communities across the nation.
New polling from Data for Progress and Fossil Free Media finds wide support for a bill that would require oil and gas companies to pay a share of climate costs caused by pollution.
Around two-thirds of likely voters support such a proposal, by a +40-point net margin. The proposal is incredibly popular among Democrats (88 percent support), but also enjoys support from a majority of Independents (61 percent). Black (78 percent) and Latino voters (75 percent) are more likely to support such a proposal, as are young voters (ages 18-29: 68 percent), who report a higher intensity of support (37 percent strongly supportive) for the bill than voters overall.
Voters were also asked if they would be more or less likely to support an elected official who would prioritize a policy that would require oil and gas companies to pay a share of climate costs caused by pollution. The findings mirror support for the proposal itself: 64% of voters say they would be more likely to support an elected official who supports the proposal, while just 26 percent say they would be less likely to support an elected official who supports such a proposal.
In the coming years, the United States will have to deal with the massive costs of fossil-fueled climate change. This research reveals wide support for a proposal to make oil and gas companies pay a share of climate costs caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Kevin Hanley (@kebhanley) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology
From November 3 to 6, 2023, Data for Progress, in collaboration with Fossil Free Media, conducted a survey of 1,279 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents, including an oversample of 18-29 year olds. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.