The majority of Americans say in a new poll they support more renewable energy and tackling climate change, but they do not back an array of specific proposals designed to curb carbon emissions, including some by the Biden administration.
The wide-ranging climate and energy survey of more than 10,000 U.S. adults by Pew Research, released this week, underscores the extent to which Americans say they’re willing to change their lifestyles to achieve a greener footprint.
A majority, 59%, oppose ending the production of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, compared to 40% who favor it.
The EPA, as part of President Biden’s climate change agenda, is proposing stringent emissions rules that would in effect require automakers to sell mostly electric vehicles by 2030.
Automakers’ steep revenue losses from the EV transition has led to an onslaught of recent layoffs, employee buyouts, production decreases and a bankruptcy. This week, a top trade group for the industry decried the proposed emissions rules as “out of whack” with reality.
In draft comments addressing the proposal, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation — which represents the likes of General Motors, Volkswagen and Hyundai — is set to tell the EPA that its expectations are “neither reasonable nor achievable in the timeframe provided.”
The group said in a recent report that EV market share accounted for less than 6% of new vehicles sold in 2022.
A large majority, 74%, support U.S. participation in international efforts to curb climate change and 67% said there should be a domestic priority on expanding renewable energy sources over fossil fuels.
But only 31% said fossil fuels should be completely phased out, while 32% said they should be phased out eventually, even though the country is not prepared.
A plurality, 35%, said fossil fuels should never be phased out as an energy source, including a majority of Democrats, at 51%.
A majority of Americans, 51%, also said they oppose preventing new buildings from having natural gas hookups, compared to 46% who favor requiring electricity as the only power source. Banning natural gas in new construction has become a major flashpoint of the culture war debate over gas stoves, as blue cities and states seek to curb access amid health and environmental concerns.
Mr. Biden received an overall 45% satisfaction rate of those who say his climate policies are taking the country in the right direction, compared to 50% who said otherwise. Both parties were sharply divided, with 76% of Democrats approving and 82% of Republicans disapproving. A majority of Democrats, 59%, said Mr. Biden could be doing more.
In the aftermath of turbulent prices at the pump and amid rising household energy costs, a plurality of Americans expressed concern that a clean energy transition could further inflate the prices of everyday goods. By a margin of 44% to 25%, Americans feared everyday goods would become more expensive, and a margin of 42% to 37% said heating and cooling would rise.
The survey was conducted among 10,329 U.S. adults from May 30 to June 4, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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