In 2019, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey introduced the Green New Deal, a landmark resolution outlining the critical steps America should take to tackle the climate crisis, address environmental injustices, and ensure every American has access to a good-paying job. Since the Green New Deal’s introduction, Data for Progress has conducted extensive research and polling on the popularity of the bill and its policy planks.

With Representative Ocasio-Cortez set to reintroduce the Green New Deal resolution in Congress this week, Data for Progress assessed the popularity of the proposal and its policy planks among likely voters in an April 2021 national survey. Two years after the bill’s introduction, Data for Progress finds the Green New Deal resolution and its policy planks still enjoy remarkable support across party lines:

• The Green New Deal remains highly popular, enjoying a 31-percentage-point margin of voter support. This includes nearly all Democrats, a majority of Independents, and over one-third of Republicans.
  
  
• Voters want their member of Congress to co-sponsor the Green New Deal. A majority of voters (57 percent) say they would support if their member of Congress co-sponsored the Green New Deal resolution when it is reintroduced in Congress.
  
  
• Co-sponsoring the Green New Deal can help members of Congress win in the 2022 midterms. A majority of voters (51 percent) say they’d be more likely to re-elect their representative if they co-sponsor the Green New Deal.
  
  
• GOP attacks on the Green New Deal aren’t working. Even when presented with a right-wing talking point that the Green New Deal would be “a waste of taxpayer money that will increase the national debt”, a majority of voters (52 percent) still think lawmakers should pass the Green New Deal.
  
  
• Every major policy plank of the Green New Deal enjoys widespread bipartisan support. Voters strongly support lowering utility costs, reducing pollution, helping family farmers adopt sustainable practices, making communities more resilient to extreme weather, and investing in frontline communities.
  
  

The Green New Deal Remains Popular 

After providing voters with information that the Green New Deal is being reintroduced in Congress and a brief description of the resolution, voters say they support the Green New Deal by a 31-point margin (60 percent support, 29 percent oppose). The proposal receives support from nearly all Democrats (83 percent support, 6 percent oppose) and a majority of Independents (57 percent support, 29 percent oppose). Notably, despite persistent right-wing messaging against the Green New Deal, over one-third of Republican voters support the proposal (36 percent support, 53 percent oppose).

 

In addition to supporting the Green New Deal, voters want their representative to co-sponsor the resolution when it is re-introduced in Congress. Nearly all Democrats (81 percent), a majority of Independents (57 percent), and one-third of Republicans (33 percent) say they would support if their member of Congress becomes a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal.

Read the rest at Data for Progress.