One Green New Deal related proposal in the Democrats’ proposed reconciliation spending bill is a plan for the federal government to hire 750,000 workers who would visit people’s homes to conduct an energy audit. When initially asked about that plan, a Scott Rasmussen national survey found 37% of voters at least somewhat favor the idea and 48% are at least somewhat opposed,
However, the plan does not call for the federal government to directly employ workers who would conduct the energy audits, Instead, the legislative proposal would provide funding for groups of environmental activists to hire people. Just 31% favor that idea and 52% are opposed.
Those totals include 13% who Strongly Favor the idea and 37% who are Strongly Opposed. Opposition to the plan is somewhat stronger among those most motivated to vote in the midterm elections.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of urban voters favor the hiring plan for energy audits. Just 27% of suburban voters share that view along with only 22% of rural voters.
Earlier this year, the Biden Administration proposed a door-to-door campaign to convince the unvaccinated to get the COVID vaccine. That, too, was unpopular with voters–especially the target audience.
In both cases, a majority of Democrats supported the door-to-door outreach. But Republicans and Independents opposed it. When it comes to the Climate Conservation Corps plan for paying 750,000 people to conduct home energy audits, 58% of Democrats favor the idea. Just 19% of Independents and 14% of Republicans agree.
Looked at from the opposite perspective, 78% of Republicans oppose the plan. So do 53% of Independents. Among Democrats, 26% are opposed.
These numbers provide yet another example of similarities between the Biden Administration today and the Carter Administration of the 1970s. It appears as if Democrats see these 750,000 workers as helping ordinary Americans. Republicans and Independent voters connect more with President Reagan’s view: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.”
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Note: Neither Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com, nor RMG Research, Inc. have any affiliation with Rasmussen Reports. While Scott Rasmussen founded that firm, he left more than seven years ago and has had no involvement since that time.
Methodology
The survey of 1,200 Registered Voters was conducted by Scott Rasmussen using a mixed mode approach from September 2-5, 2021. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Most respondents were contacted online or via text while 151 were contacted using automated phone polling techniques. Online respondents were selected from a list of Registered Voters and through a process of Random Digital Engagement. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.
The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 2.8 percentage points.
