New California Poll Shows Voters in Swing Districts Want Climate Action

(WASHINGTON, DC – May 10, 2023) Today, EDF Action released a California state poll that shows that an overwhelming majority of voters—both statewide and in the state’s eight swing U.S. House districts — are concerned about their communities and the economy being harmed by climate change, and they want real and meaningful action.  

Hart Research conducted the statewide poll and survey of the swing districts, which may determine control of the U.S. House in 2024. In addition, the firm conducted deeper interviews over several days with three key groups of voters focused on the Asian American Pacific and Islander (AAPI) community, the Latino community and moderate and Republican voters in the Central Valley to get a better understanding of voter attitudes in critical communities across the state. 

While Democrats hold every statewide office in California, there are eight House districts that are among the most competitive in the nation. These swing districts are comprised of two Central Valley districts (CD-13 and CA-22), one district in Northern Los Angeles County (CD-27), one district in Riverside County (CA-41), three districts located in Orange County (CA-40, CA-45, CA-47) and one district in Northern San Diego County (CA-49). The new poll shows that voters in these districts share the statewide perspective on the issue of climate change.  

•  Statewide—61% of voters believe that climate change is a crisis or serious problem; 54% think the federal government is doing too little to address climate change; and 60% say climate change plays a major role in extreme weather events.  
• Swing CDs—53% believe that climate change is a crisis or serious problem; 48% think the federal government is doing too little to address climate change; and 53% say climate change plays a major role in extreme weather events.  

The interviews with voters in key constituency groups also found that California Latino and Asian American Pacific and Islanders (AAPI) are overwhelmingly concerned about the impacts of climate change. Concern about climate action among the independent voters (“Decline to State” or “DTS”), Latino and AAPI voters in the swing congressional districts were even more similar to those in the statewide sample in their concern about the impacts of climate change. 

Find the full polling memo here.  

“Our new poll makes clear that climate is a winning issue in California. Voters are experiencing more droughts, flooding and fires because of climate change. It harms their communities and causes the cost of living to rise. They want more action from their elected leaders to secure a healthy and thriving future for everyone,” said EDF Action President David Kieve. “Climate action means more family-sustaining jobs, energy security, lower costs and less pollution. It’s not only good policy, but good politics. This is critically important because California, with eight highly competitive races in 2024, can lead us to a climate majority in the U.S. House.” 

“An important finding looking ahead to the 2024 elections is that attitudes among voters in targeted congressional districts generally have more in common with the state as a whole than there are differences.  In other words, climate and climate solutions are potentially winning issues in critical battleground areas,” said Fred Yang, chief executive officer of Hart Research Associates.