More and more Americans continue to become concerned and alarmed about climate change. However, conventional wisdom suggests tackling climate change from a policy standpoint is highly divisive.
Rather than studying climate policy writ large, behavioral scientists at Rare studied Americans’ support for climate-friendly policies and how the benefits of those policies affect the lives of everyday citizens.
It turns out we, as Americans, may be more united in our beliefs than we think.
In 2021, Rare launched the Climate Culture Index, a research initiative specially designed to track Americans’ state of mind relative to key climate-friendly behaviors. The 2024 national running of the Index shows that a sizable majority of Americans support policies that incentivize climate-positive choices. The Index shows that more than 80% of respondents would support policies around home energy choices like cash rebates for installing home solar panels and more than 70% would support policies providing rebates for purchase or lease of electric vehicles. Support for these policies jumps to 90% when Rare surveyed residents of Denver and Boston.
Even in polarizing political times, political affiliation may impact people’s support for these policies less than one might think. Further exploratory research indicated that while being a conservative is weakly associated with decreased policy support across the board, these coefficients are relatively small. Believing that others support the policy and believing in the personal benefits of adoption are stronger correlates of policy support.
“This is an encouraging sign, indicating support for climate-positive choices is not confined to one part of the political spectrum,” said Rakhim Rakhimov, one of the principal researchers behind the Climate Culture Index.
The Index’s results are consistent with other polls – the 2024 poll from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago found that “after a several-year decline in support for the statement that climate change is primarily driven by human activities, support rebounded in 2024, with 54 percent of respondents agreeing that humans are the primary driver. The increase was most pronounced among Democrats, with a 7-percentage point bump in just one year. Notably, 40 percent of young Republicans said they believe climate change is primarily human-driven, up from just 26 percent in 2017.”
But, Americans do not know that there is such widespread support for climate policy. In a politically charged and polarized environment, the prevailing narrative has been one of division when it comes to climate policy. Across the seven choices the Index studied, there was an average gap of 20 percentage points between actual and perceived support for policies, meaning that Americans underestimate how many other people support these climate policies.
These gaps are known as the normative gap (people underestimate how many others believe that people should adopt the behaviors) and the policy support gap (people underestimate the share of peers that support behavioral policies designed to boost the adoption of the behaviors).
This means that while a majority of individuals support these policies, they see a different attitude reflected in their communities, in public discourse, or in media, and one that is not entirely reflective of reality.
In a similar poll to the Index, the Climate Insights project by Resources for the Future uncovered a gap between desired and perceived federal efforts to address climate change. Jon Krosnick, a professor at Stanford University and a key researcher behind the Climate Insights Project, said, “What’s really striking in these surveys is that Americans are not seeing nearly the effort [to address climate change] that they would like to see. In contrast to people saying they would like the federal government to be doing a moderate amount or more—about 80 percent—only 50 percent think the government is doing that.”
“It’s crucial to bridge the gap between perceived and actual support to build momentum for these policies and encourage the adoption of the incentives they offer,” said Brandon Schauer, Rare’s Senior Vice President of Climate Culture.
With extreme weather intensifying and hurricanes reaching unprecedented strengths, now is the time to reinforce the message that Americans are overwhelmingly united in their support for climate policies.