Voters Support Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Extraction

Preventing catastrophic climate change impacts requires ending the extraction of fossil fuels, but the United States is on track to do the opposite. The US is currently the world’s largest producer, exporter, and expander of oil and gas, and, under President Biden, achieved the infamous goal of producing more crude oil annually than any nation in history. Continued fossil fuel production perpetuates environmental and health crises that disproportionately harm working people—and expansion will likely intensify under the incoming Trump administration.

While the United States has made progress towards a buildout of clean and renewable energy, there has been very little serious discussion of curtailing fossil fuel extraction. Though many politicians believe that halting existing or new fossil fuel production is politically unpopular, there is surprisingly limited data to back this claim. To better understand how the general public views policies aimed at phasing out fossil fuel production, we conducted a nationally representative survey.

Overall, the results demonstrate widespread support for policies to curtail the extraction of fossil fuels.

The majority of respondents support ending fossil fuel production subsidies and a phase out of new fossil fuel production. If this were to be done, it would prevent future lock-in of fossil fuel infrastructure, which often remains in use for many decades and is politically and economically challenging to shut down once it is already built. Our findings demonstrate that there is significant support for these policy measures across income groups, and that Republicans have only weak opposition to ending subsidies and phasing out new production. 

The majority of respondents support ending fossil fuel production subsidies (54.1% in support, versus 22.7% who oppose) and a phase out of new fossil fuel production (50.9% in support, versus 26.8% who oppose).

While the Federal Government is likely to work towards a continued expansion of fossil fuel production under the next administration, many local and state governments will consider moratoriums on new extraction and phase out plans of existing fossil fuel production. In light of this broad public support, we suggest that policymakers, especially at the state and local levels, should urgently consider policy measures to curtail fossil fuel extraction and ensure a livable future.