California voters still care about the environment, but affordability concerns are rising, poll says

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Even as cost of living concerns rise, and addressing affordability becomes the primary talking point for politicians of both parties, California voters continue to place a high value on environmental issues as they weigh who to vote for in November’s elections, a new survey by the Public Policy Institute of California reveals.

The survey, conducted from June 29 to July 6, found that 48% of likely California voters say environmental concerns were very important and 37% said they were somewhat important in shaping their vote for California’s next governor in November. That sentiment was bipartisan, with 95% of Democrats, 67% of Republicans and 84% of independent voters telling PPIC’s pollsters the environment was very or somewhat important in determining their pick for governor.

Of those voters, 48% called a candidate’s position on the environment “very important,” and 37% said it was somewhat important. That number does not trail too far behind how voters view cost of living concerns. In February, the PPIC found that 61% of voters considered affordability very important when choosing who to vote for.

But even as voters say they still care about the environment, beneath those responses lies rising concern about the costs that climate and environmental policies impose on families’ pocketbooks. Sixty-eight percent of likely voters told PPIC the cost of energy — both in utility bills and the price of gasoline at the pump — were a big problem. That figure again held true across parties, with 64% of Democrats, 69% of Republicans and 63% of Independents sharing the sentiment.

“Californians continue to be concerned about environmental conditions but Californians are also living at a time that has caused heightened concerns about their cost of living,” PPIC survey director Mark Baldassare told The Sacramento Bee Wednesday.

“How to balance those two really presents the challenge,” for elected officials and policymakers, he said.

In another reflection of the growing weight cost of living concerns carries with voters, PPIC found strong support for a November ballot initiative to amend the California Environmental Quality Act to limit environmental reviews for housing construction and infrastructure projects.

Seventy-three percent of likely voters said they’d vote yes on the proposal to expedite the reviews for housing, transportation, health, water and clean energy projects, though PPIC noted that the label and title the proposition will carry on the ballot weren’t published when surveyors conducted the poll.

The percentage of Californians (including non-likely voters) who called energy costs a big problem rose 9 points from last July — a sign of the growing pressures high gasoline costs and electrical bills are bringing to bear on state residents. And while Californians continue to support state law mandating 100% of the state’s electricity come from renewable energy sources by 2045, only 38% of them are willing to pay more on their electrical bills for that shift.

Only once since PPIC has asked, has a majority of voters said they were willing to pay more for the transition to renewable energy, according to the organization’s study — a high watermark that came in 2016.

In the most recent survey, about half of Californians approved of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s approach to the state’s environmental issues, as Newsom nears the end of his time in office. When it came to the state Legislature, 48% of adults and 51% of likely voters support lawmakers handling of environmental issues. Predictably in a deep blue state where Democrats have been horrified by Republicans aggressive attempts to gut some of the nation’s landmark environmental policies, only 28% of likely voters approve of President Donald Trump’s environmental policies. Just 18% of likely voters approve of the Republican-held U.S. Congress’s approach to environmental issues.

The figure was similar for the federal government in general, with only 19% of likely voters trusting it to do the right thing when it came to environmental policies.

If Newsom’s environmental approach held a narrow majority approval, though, his attempt to wean the state off gas-powered cars proved largely unpopular. The governor’s September 2020 order directed the state to require all new cars and passenger trucks sold in the state after 2035 be zero-emission vehicles.

“This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” Newsom said at the time.

Today, 66% of California adults oppose that policy. That’s a 17-point increase from 2021. Among Democrats, 49% support the policy while 50% are opposed. Only 9% of Republicans support the executive order, and just 30% of independents.

Californians also appear to be uniting around a new environmental villain: data centers for artificial intelligence. Seven in ten Californians are opposed to the construction of an AI data center near where they live. Among likely voters, 50% strongly oppose such construction and 28% are somewhat opposed. Among Central Valley residents opposition is a little lighter, with 38% strongly opposed and 29% somewhat opposed. Opposition is highest in the Inland Empire, and lightest in the Orange County and San Diego area.

State lawmakers have been responding to public concern about data centers, which often center around their heavy water use. The Legislature is advancing bills requiring developers and operators to disclose the centers’ water usage. Newsom vetoed similar legislation last year, saying at the time he was reluctant to burden the rapidly evolving industry with new reporting requirements.

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