On May 6 Monmouth University released polling data that showed a decline in the number of Americans who see climate change as a very serious problem. In 2021 two-thirds of Americans said climate change was a very serious problem. In 2024 that number dropped to 50%, according to the Monmouth poll.
This is not growing climate change denial. Almost three in four Americans (73%) see the world’s climate as changing and bringing with it more extreme weather patterns. They also believe that sea levels are rising.
What has changed is the sense of urgency for government to deal with the problem. Support of government action to reduce activities that impact the climate is declining, even among younger adults who had been the strongest supporters of government action.
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Gov. Murphy’s all-electric car mandate will be disastrous for Cape May County
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We could cite polls from numerous organizations showing the same pattern of beliefs.
Americans overwhelmingly think climate change is real. A strong majority think that it is caused by human activities. The problem for those who are pushing radical transformation due to climate change is that Americans are ranking the threats from the climate lower than other national priorities like the economy, health care and crime.
The responsibility for the decline in support for their signature initiatives on climate change rests with the very government agencies that are pushing the hardest to transform the nation’s energy profile.
In September Stockton University polling showed a significant drop in support for wind farm construction off the New Jersey coast. Offshore wind is a key element of the state’s climate change response and it is losing support with just about 50% supporting the offshore wind agenda, down from almost 80% four years ago.
Americans have always shown an ability to make sacrifices when a consensus emerges around a goal that requires that sacrifice. The problem in New Jersey, and more broadly in the nation, is that those asking the public to make enormous sacrifices are not building the consensus that must underpin that effort.
Electricity prices are rising rapidly while we are still in the early years of state mandates to move all new car sales to electric vehicles.
Offshore wind deals are being cut with companies, often foreign entities, without any public understanding of what the deals mean for ratepayers. New Jerseyans are also left to worry about the impact of these wind farms on the state’s economy and its environment.
What the public gets are 1,000-plus-page environmental impact statements that are not accessible to the average citizen.
Goals are set by executive order, elected representatives are bypassed, New Jersey’s home rule traditions are overridden, and appointed bodies like the Board of Public Utilities have become extensions of the governor’s staff rather than independent bodies with a responsibility for the public good.
Should anyone really be surprised that support is dropping? Claims of a new Eden for the state’s economy teeming with high-paying jobs are competing with the reality of rising costs for residents trying to live their daily lives amid increasing disruption.
One does not have to be a climate change denier to be against the state’s heavy-handed, top-down approach to its climate threat agenda. The public is demanding honest economic analysis. It is demanding priorities rather than each government agency deciding for itself how and when it is going to claim its piece of the climate agenda.
The Monmouth poll is not alone in showing ebbing support for a radical transformative agenda. A Pew Research Center poll last year found similar results.
The Monmouth poll reflects a consensus from all around the state. How much less support would Gov. Murphy’s climate agenda have right here in Cape May County when we factor in all the negative impact we are going to be experiencing when his mandate takes effect that all cars be electric? We will need many more chargers than gasoline pumps because one can’t charge a car in the five minutes it takes to buy gas. Chargers will have to be everywhere. It is highly unlikely that that will be the case – and that assumes we will have the power lines to bring in all that power. A good guess is that that is not going to happen.
To summarize, declaring that something is urgent is not sufficient to make it urgent. Transformative agendas can only be accomplished with broad public support.
Those who argue for such transformation carry the burden of building that support.
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From the Bible: Plans fail for lack of counsel. From Proverbs 15
