“Voters don’t want the federal government telling them what kinds of cars they should buy and drive.  They don’t want taxes on carbon dioxide.  They don’t want the government to make energy more expensive.”

March 28, 2022 (Washington, DC) – By strong majorities, voters likely to vote in the next election say that if the government does anything in the energy markets it should work to lower prices, expand the range of choices available, and not increase taxes, a survey released today by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity and MWR Strategies found.

CTUP co-founder Stephen Moore said: “Voters understand the green agenda is what is responsible for the spike in energy prices. They don’t believe the solution to our problems is to switch to electric cars or any of the other pie-in-the-sky Biden schemes.”

Pollster Mike McKenna added: “Voters consistently tell us they don’t prioritize or want to pay much if anything for climate change.  They are especially resistant to energy taxes and to attempts to impose mandates.”

Highlights:

• The No. 1 concern for likely voters is the economy:  Inflation and concerns about the economy dominate voters’ mindshare.  In an open-ended format, almost a third (30 percent) of respondents indicated that the economy or inflation were the most pressing issues facing the United States.  Just 13 percent said the COVID was the most pressing issue (which indicates that voters have moved on from the virus).

Almost all agreed (90 percent, 67 percent strongly) with the statement, “I am concerned about inflation”.  This sentiment (obviously) is strong across demographic and ideological groups (85 percent of self-identified liberals agreed with the statement). Cost concerns are also strong concerning energy and food.  Three-quarters (77 percent) said they are paying too much for gasoline (including 92 percent of those ages 27-35); 79 percent said they are paying too much for food (75 percent of males, 82 percent of females).

• Climate Change IS NOT a priority.  As we have seen across many years, climate change is not a priority for most even as it is the No. 1 domestic and international focus of the Biden Administration.  Just 13 respondents (1.3 percent) identified it as the most pressing issue facing the United States, and just 25 more (2.5 percent) identified it as the second most pressing issue facing the United States.

• Voters are not willing to pay a lot to address an issue on which they are skeptical:  There continues to be a limited appetite to pay to address climate change.   When asked what they would be willing to pay each year to address climate change, the median response was 55 dollars annually.  More than a third (36 percent) said less than 10 dollars (26 percent said “zero”)

• Carbon taxes are a loser:  Voters don’t want the government to make energy more expensive (by a margin of 68 points).  They don’t want a carbon dioxide tax (rejected by 40 points).

• Voters reject electric vehicle mandates.  Voters flat out reject electric vehicle mandates (rejected by 63 points).  More than two-thirds (68 percent) said we don’t need government policies that force consumers to buy them.

• Trust.  Voters don’t trust the government very much.  More than two-thirds (68 percent) said that they did not trust the federal government to decide what kind of cars should be subsidized or mandated.  A slightly greater percentage (70 percent) said they wanted to decide the cars and fuels they buy (rather than the state or federal government).  That is consistent across all demographic groups, but is, as expected a bit softer among self-identified Democrats (only 55 percent of whom want to reserve that decision for themselves).

The survey of 1000 likely voters nationwide conducted February 15 to 26 had a 3.1 percent error margin.

Toplines are available at: 
https://committeetounleashprosperity.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/220311_CTUP_Charts_v2.pdf