Infographic – Public Favors Rejoining Paris Accord

Click on image for full-size view. (YouGov)

28 Nov. 2020. A top priority for U.S. president-elect Joe Biden’s administration is mitigating effects of climate change, with the first step in that plan to rejoin the international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions and reverse climate change impacts. The U.N. sponsored the treaty, agreed to in Paris in April 2015 by the U.S. and most other countries. The Obama administration signed and supported the agreement, but Donald Trump later withdrew the U.S. from the accord.

A YouGov survey taken earlier this month indicates the U.S. public largely supports rejoining the Paris climate agreement. By more than a two-to-one margin, a majority of adults in the U.S. (55%) are strongly or somewhat in favor of rejoining the Paris accord, while 23 percent are strongly or somewhat opposed. About one in five (22%) don’t know.

To no one’s surprise, political affiliation creates wide differences in opinion on the question. Eight in 10 Democrats (79%) support rejoining the Paris agreement, while most Republicans (57%) are opposed. About half (52%) of independents and other affiliations also support taking part again in the agreement, while one-quarter to one-third of each group disagree. Geographic region also plays a role: six in 10 people living in the eastern U.S. (60%) favor rejoining the Paris accord, compared to about half of those living in the South (51%).

YouGov recruits a representative panel of about 2 million residents in the U.S. to take part in online surveys. The 11 Nov. survey had 7,607 adult respondents.

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