Results hot off the presses from a Wall Street Journal / NBC poll show promising climate attitudes among American voters, most notably, solid support for the new Environmental Protection Agency proposal to limit carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants.
At a moment when President Obama’s approval numbers continue to “tank,” the WSJ called his climate and energy policy “a rare bright spot.” Indeed! Here are some top takeaways:
- More than six in 10 of the 1,000 US respondents said action is needed against climate change
- 67 percent say they strongly (37 percent) or somewhat (30 percent) support Obama’s rules to set limits on power plant emissions and just 29 percent say they oppose
- 57 percent said they would favor a proposal to curb greenhouse gas emissions even if it meant higher electricity bills (That figure is up 9 percentage points since October 2009 and the highest since WSJ/NBC began asking the question.)
A Bloomberg News survey a week prior revealed similar numbers, finding that 62 percent of US residents say they would be willing to pay more in their electricity bills to reduce carbon pollution, and only 33 percent would not.
The WSJ also noted that elected officials who continue to ignore or deny climate change appear to be out of step with a majority of Americans. The poll found that “EPA and its proponents are garnering more support from Americans than those who criticize the agency.” A majority of respondents—53 percent—agree with the position taken by EPA and its supporters on climate pollution standards, while just 39 percent of poll respondents sided with the claims made by the EPA’s opponents (you know the claims: job killing, economy wrecking, cost-spiking, etc.).
The point is, Americans are ready for climate action and the foot-draggers are looking worse and worse.