TOPLINES: Polling on Clean Energy in the 2024 Presidential Election

Many of President Biden and Democrats’ legislative achievements are in the clean energy space, and these technologies are at the core of Republicans’ attacks on Democrats during this election cycle. To win in 2024, Democrats must counter Republican critiques of the energy transition and help voters understand the critical economic and national security benefits of clean energy technologies. 

Third Way’s Climate and Energy Program worked with Impact Research to conduct a poll of 1,000 likely voters, with an oversample in battleground states. Our goal was to understand voters’ perspectives on clean energy in this election and develop strategies to increase their support for clean energy investments.  

Here's a snapshot of what we found:  

Americans trust Trump more than Biden on a range of energy issues and economic issues.

• Increasing domestic energy production by +15 points. 
• Supporting American manufacturing by +19 points.
• Reducing the cost of energy and gas by +17 points.
• The economy by +18 points.

35% of voters list economic issues, including inflation and the cost of living, as their top priority for elected officials. 

• Nearly half of Latino voters are Economy-First, +8 points more than any other racial group.
• Non-college voters are +7 points more likely to be Economy-First than college graduates. 
• Young voters (18-34) are +13 points more likely to be Economy-First than any other age group.
• Only 6% of voters list climate change as their top priority.

The second and third most pressing concerns across all groups were securing the border (22%) and protecting democracy (11%).

77% of voters support investments in manufacturing clean energy, compared with just 49% of respondents who support investments in electric vehicle manufacturing. 

96% of voters did not own an EV and 35% say there is no chance at all that they will purchase one in the next ten years. 

• 55% of Republicans are in that “zero chance” camp, compared with just 14% of Democrats and 28% of Independents.

About 30% of voters believed clean energy would have a negative or, at best, neutral effect on job growth and the American economy. About 40% said the same about the impact of clean energy on national security.

Methodology

From January 17-22, 2024, Third Way and Impact Research conducted quantitative polling via online panel and a text-to-web survey of 1,000 likely 2024 general election voters, with an oversample of 300 likely 2024 general election voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia. The margin of error for the main sample is +/- 3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The margin of error for subgroups varies and is higher.