It is political season, which can be overwhelming. But it has moments of inspiration. Karin Kirk at Yale Climate Connections summarizes the landscape of opinion on key environmental issues:

Six incredibly popular climate policies

The majority of registered U.S. voters support electrification and renewable energy.

A strong majority of registered voters support certain policies aimed at tackling climate change, according to recent research by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (the publisher of this site) and the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University.

Here’s a summary of these results.

• Support for farmers to store carbon. Voters across the ideological spectrum like the idea of federal funding that helps farmers improve the ability of soil to absorb and store carbon, with 86% of survey respondents either strongly or somewhat supportive of the idea. Notably, this was the only climate policy that garnered the approval of voters who identified themselves as conservative Republicans, with 71% in favor.
• A national job training program. As energy production shifts away from fossil fuels, thousands of jobs will follow suit. Seventy-seven percent of voters support a national program to train workers from the coal, gas, and oil industries to work in renewable energy.

• Tax credits for EVs and solar. Seventy-seven percent of voters support tax rebates for individuals who purchase electric vehicles or solar panels for their homes. This is one of the most well-known policies of the Inflation Reduction Act, a federal law passed in August 2022 that is making substantial investments in U.S. clean energy production.

• Tax credits for electrifying heating and cooking. Along a similar vein, 74% of respondents expressed approval for tax credits or rebates to help offset the costs of replacing oil- or gas-burning household appliances. This applies to heat pumps or induction stoves, for example.

• Regulating CO2. Switching from carrots to sticks, 74% of voters also approve of the idea that carbon dioxide should be regulated as a pollutant.
• Ending fossil fuels. Most voters do envision a carbon-free future: 66% of registered voters support transitioning the U.S. economy from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy by 2050. Just 23% of conservative Republicans supported this idea, the lowest among any of the policies in this survey…

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