Summary: In light of President Trump’s first hundred days in Office, More in Common asked Americans what they think about his policy initiatives. Our most interesting findings, however, came from an unexpected topic. Our Executive Director, Jason Mangone, details Americans’ surprising consensus on the environment.
This was not the newsletter I was supposed to be writing.
A few weeks ago, we decided to see how Americans were feeling about President Trump’s first hundred days in office. We prepared a poll to gauge Americans’ opinions on topics dominating the news: immigration, tariffs, DOGE, foreign aid, etc. We had a minute or two of time left to fill, so we slotted in a few questions about Americans’ perspectives on the environment and climate. These issues are important and interesting but haven’t been featured as much in news cycles over the last few months, so weren’t a top priority for this particular poll.
When we got the data back, we learned that Republicans and Democrats, unsurprisingly, are polarized on most of the issues dominating the news during President Trump’s first 100 days. For instance, 76% of Democrats think Elon Musk’s involvement in government is a bad thing, versus 13% of Republicans. These splits extend to specific policies: 68% of Democrats think that raising tariffs on imported goods brings more harm than benefits to the US economy, compared to only 15% of Republicans.
As you can see from the chart below, the list goes on: if large majorities of Democrats agree with something, only a tiny minority of Republicans agree with the same, and vice-versa. Notably, Independents, who make up about a third of Americans, are more mixed in their views.
Yet responses to our questions on energy, climate, and the environment showed the least polarization—the very set of issues that hasn’t been in the news too much, and that we almost left out of our poll. Supermajorities (more than two-thirds) of respondents in both parties agree on these issues:
66% of Republicans and 92% of Democrats think it’s important that the government actively works to address environmental issues such as pollution.
88% of Republicans and 94% of Democrats think it’s important that national parks and public lands remain open, accessible and well-maintained.
And, most surprisingly, 73% of Republicans and 93% of Democrats think the US should be a world leader in developing clean energy.
Republicans and Democrats themselves are just as surprised by this consensus as we were. Both Democrats and Republicans vastly underestimate the degree to which the other party worries about how climate change will harm the US economy; thinks that we should seize the moment now to speed up action on climate change, even if there are short term costs; and believes that humans should work together to solve the problem of climate change, regardless of its causes. They also underestimate support within their own party.
Most importantly, the largest perception gap is also around the most actionable idea: developing clean energy. We find that nine in ten (93%) Democrats and nearly three in four Republicans (73%) agree that the US should be a world leader in developing clean energy.
Yet both Democrats and Republicans vastly underestimate Republicans' support – indeed, nearly three times more Republicans support US clean energy leadership than Democrats think is the case. Democrats think only a quarter (26%) of Republicans would hold this view and Republicans themselves think only a third (33%) of Republicans would agree. Recognizing our shared consensus on this issue is an important first step to meaningful action.
Our country is indeed polarized by political party. But in a moment where it seems almost impossible to build consensus, let alone drive muscular, bipartisan action out of Congress, it’s important to find opportunities where our politics will allow us to practice good governance. Making the US a leader in clean energy, a policy that the President himself seems to support, might be a good place to start building this bipartisan muscle.
More generally, the lesson that we’ve drawn from this surprise finding in our polling is that, if you’re in search of consensus, it might be best to look anywhere but the headlines.
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