Is climate change a problem Americans will throw money at?

Texas — Scott Rasmussen’s unique CounterpollingTM methodology strikes again!

The following headline by MSNBC caught the attention of Scott: “Biden is in a race against the clock to save the world from Republicans." The headline was referring to a series of hurried policies that the Biden Administration was working to set in place before a potential change of party in the Oval Office this November. 

But what do the numbers say? According to polling by RMG Research, 85% of Americans feel that climate change is real. The disconnect with voters is not on the potential existence of the issue. The disconnect is in who and how Americans want the problem solved.

Rasmussen, who has done extensive polling on Americans' attitudes, political habits, and mindsets, said, “If you are in the world of politics you think, ‘Wow, people have identified a problem. That means they want the government to do something about it.’ Not really.” 

Less than one-fourth of Americans trust the federal government to do the right thing most of the time. With such low faith from the American people, the government “does not have the legitimate authority to solve difficult challenges,” said Rasmussen. “Lasting reform is impossible without trust in the legitimacy of our government.”

Seventy-eight percent of Americans feel that fighting climate change is important, but they also say fighting climate change is not worth a large disruption to their way of life. Forty-seven percent believe it’s possible to fight climate change without significant cuts in the American standard of living. While 80% of Americans aren't willing to pay more than $100 per year to fight climate change. And 48% think it's more important to make America energy independent than to fight climate change, with a similar 49% not willing to accept higher energy prices in order to transition away from fossil fuels. 

“Voters tend to think it’s more important to keep the price of gas and energy down than to fight climate change," shared Rasmussen. "All things considered, it makes the Biden Administration’s 'race to save the world from republicans,' look a bit misguided."