Charles Rotter
Pew Research Center’s recent midterm survey, released October 8, asked registered voters how important 16 issues are to their vote this fall. The economy came first. Environment and climate policy came in 41%, well down the list.
From the report:
“84% of registered voters – including 88% of those who support Democrats and 82% who back Republicans – say it is very important to their vote.”
Ahead of environment and climate policy, according to the report’s tables, are the future of democracy (73%), healthcare (68%), education (62%), immigration (59%), foreign policy (57%), energy policy (54%), violent crime (52%), abortion (46%), gun policy (45%), artificial intelligence (44%) and the size and scope of the federal government (43%).
The party split is where climate stands out. Among voters backing Democratic House candidates, 66% call environment and climate policy very important. Among Republican backers, 15% do. Pew lists that 51-point gap as one of the two largest of the 16 items. The other is investigations into Trump and his administration, 63% to 7%.
Even on the Democratic side, the economy outranks it, 88% to 66%.
Energy policy can be tracked cleanly, because Pew asked it the same way in 2022. That October, 61% of registered voters called it very important. Now it’s 54%. The drop is almost entirely on one side. Republican supporters went from 63% to 48%. Democratic supporters went from 63% to 62%.
Climate is harder to track. In 2020, 42% of registered voters called climate change very important, and in October 2022, 38%. The 2026 item was reworded to “environment and climate policy,” and Pew says in a table note that the trends are not directly comparable. That same note describes the 2022 item as “climate policy,” while the report’s own topline labels it “Climate change.” Whichever wording it was, the number has sat around four in ten.
Then there are prices. Pew asks all adults, not just voters, how concerned they personally are about “the price of gasoline and energy.” In January, 43% said very concerned. In July, 60%. In the latest survey, 74%. That is 31 points in about eight months, and higher than the 69% Pew recorded in October 2022.
So three out of four adults are very worried about what they pay for gas and power, while the share of voters calling energy policy very important has fallen, mostly among Republicans. Pew doesn’t ask why.
None of this adds up to a Republican wave. Only 22% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going, Trump’s approval is at 30%, down from 47% in early 2025, and Democrats lead the generic House ballot 44% to 36%. The low Republican number on climate tells you how Republican voters rank the issue. It doesn’t say how the country votes on it.
A note on the survey itself. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.6 points for the full sample and 1.8 for registered voters, larger for the half-sample questions and for each party’s supporters. Pew reports a cumulative response rate of 3%, after recruitment nonresponse and panel attrition, and weights the results to compensate.
What the survey doesn’t ask is the question that matters for energy policy.
How much more on the monthly electric bill would these voters accept for faster emissions cuts?
Would the 66% hold once the household cost of a specific policy mandate is on the table?
