New research from Data for Progress and Unlocking America’s Future reveals extreme attacks against responsible investing are not reaching or resonating with American voters
Washington – Responsible investing and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed climate disclosure rule is overwhelmingly popular across party lines, according to new polling published today by Unlocking America’s Future and Data for Progress. The new research suggests that Americans do not view responsible investing as the boogeyman extreme politicians make it out to be.
According to the poll, two-thirds of voters (80% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans) support the proposed SEC rule, which would require publicly traded companies to disclose information about direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions.
The new polling also suggests that partisan rhetoric on responsible investing is not reaching a large portion of the electorate. While over half of voters say they have read or heard about ESG (59%), 40% say what they’ve heard is neutral and only 9% say what they have heard about ESG is mostly negative. Only 16% of Republicans strongly oppose responsible investing, while a majority of Republicans (64%), Independents (69%), and Democrats (80%) support the investment practice.
“This new polling data reinforces what we already know – Americans see past the divisive, misleading rhetoric pushed by extreme politicians and understand that responsible investing is good for the economy, our climate, and America’s position on the global stage,” said Kyle Herrig, spokesperson for Unlocking America’s Future. “As the SEC prepares to release its final rule on climate disclosures, it’s important to make clear that voters across party lines broadly support the rule.”
The full report can be found here.
Survey Methodology
From January 19 to 22, 2024, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,214 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.
