Strong Public Support for State-level Policies to Address Climate Change
This report presents findings from the Spring 2017 National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE) fielded just prior to President Trump’s June 2017 announcement to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 international climate agreement negotiated in Paris and subsequent pledges by a number of states to continue to honor their share of Paris emission reduction commitments. The data suggest that these state-level pledges match the expectations of a majority of Americans who feel that in the absence of federal action, state governments have a responsibility to act to address climate change. Furthermore, while it is still unclear what specific policies states will seek to uphold their pledges, our data finds the suite of policy options that have previously formed the backbone of state climate policy are likely to enjoy broad-based public support across the political spectrum. This even holds among those who don’t necessarily think that climate change is occurring.