Americans’ Views on Climate and Energy Policy

Most Americans support policies that protect our air, water and land, as well as policies that reduce emissions, with a large partisan divide on almost all policies

Democrats strongly support environmental and climate policies, such as incentives to expand  renewable energy and purchase EVs, funding to help states adapt to climate change, and enforcing strict clean air and water regulations—all policies rolled back by the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans. Despite rollback efforts, most Americans support these policies and about half or more of Republicans put their support behind enforcing clean air and water regulations and building new renewable energy. There is a wide gap—25- to 43-points—between Democrats and Republicans on almost all of the climate policies polled in the chart below. Protecting conservation lands and wildlife is one area of strong bipartisan support.

Most Americans don’t support the expansion of fossil fuel development

Though the Iran war has tightened the global supply of oil, leading the Trump administration to ramp up fossil fuel development at home, most Americans don’t support these actions. Looking at Americans’ views before and after the start of the war, their views on this matter did not change—including among Republicans, with about 2 in 3 supporting the expansion of oil and gas production and about half supporting the expansion of natural gas exports in both 2025 and 2026. About half of Americans oppose auctioning off public lands for oil drilling. Only a about a third of Republicans support this—a policy pushed forward by the Trump administration, which has reversed the protections of some conservation areas. That’s despite the fact that 82 percent of Republicans say they support the protection of conservation lands and wildlife.

Young Republicans are less supportive of policies to expand fossil fuels than older Republicans and more supportive of climate policies

Younger Republicans (18-29) disagree with their older counterparts (60+) on a wide variety of energy and climate policies. Generally, younger Republicans are more likely than older Republicans to support incentives for electric vehicles and efforts to help communities adapt to climate change. Conversely, older Republicans support the expansion of oil and gas production and auctioning off public land for drilling more than younger Republicans.

Americans are not very willing to pay for climate action

While 62 percent of Americans support taxing companies on the carbon they emit, they largely don’t want to pay a carbon fee themselves. Fewer than half support paying any amount of money in the form of a monthly fee on their energy use. As in 2025, 38 percent are willing to pay $1—falling from 52 percent in 2021. Willingness to pay on average declined for a second straight year.