NEW POLL: Majority of Latinos Support Clean Energy Investments and the Build Back Better Act to Create Jobs and Fight the Climate Crisis

A new poll from BSP Research and Climate Power shows that acting on climate is a priority for Latinos who see the climate investments in the Build Back Better Act as a key way to make progress on top political issues.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – An overwhelming majority of Latinos (86%) support a legislative package that puts America on the path to cut climate pollution in half by 2030. According to a new poll from BSP Research and Climate Power, Latino voters want to see the Build Back Better Agenda passed, which includes clean energy tax credits and environmental justice policies. While the climate investments in the Build Back Better Act are still being debated in Congress, Latinos made clear that the community wants to see President Biden’s climate agenda enacted to create millions of jobs, lower energy costs and protect the community from pollution and climate change. 

Latinos are living with the impacts of the climate crisis now: from working for hours in dangerous weather conditions, to paying higher energy costs, to living in areas more prone to weather disasters. This reality has made climate change  a key issue for Latinos.

Seventy percent of Latino voters in the country think that extreme weather events are a direct result of climate change, with 79% saying it’s getting worse. Climate change is also a big issue for Latino’s at the polls and is holding nearly as great of importance as the DREAM Act. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they’d be unlikely to support a candidate if they didn’t advance climate action, while 57% said the same of candidates opposing the DREAM act.

Even though climate change is impacting us all, decades of environmental injustice have put the greatest burden on communities of color. Latinos are the most exposed and the least likely to recover after an extreme weather event. This is why legislation like the Build Back Better Act resonates so strongly in the community, because it shows a clear path forward to mitigate climate change through a strong clean energy economy, with key environmental justice provisions that will help protect communities of color from toxic pollution. 

Here are some key takeaways from the poll released today:

• A majority of 74% of Latinos believe climate change is a very serious problem, with 36% calling it a crisis.
  • Extreme heat and longer heatwaves are the most concerning weather change for Latinos in the poll (27%). 
  • 88% believe that climate change is creating extreme weather and natural disasters, for their families and friends in Mexico, Central and South America
• An overwhelming majority (87%) said that they would support legislation that creates millions of additional clean energy jobs in fast growing industries like wind and solar. 
• 86% of Latino voters want to make oil and gas companies pay their fair share for the pollution they create.
• COVID is the most important issue for Latinos. Decades of exposure to pollution left Latinos more vulnerable to the pandemic. But the majority of Latinos (86%) see the Build Back Better Act as an opportunity to protect the health of their families by reducing pollution.

Latinos are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and the Build Back Better Act would go a long way to protect families, communities, and jobs from the extremes of climate change.  

The Build Back Better Act includes transformational clean energy tax incentives as well as key environmental justice provisions, including climate justice block grants to reduce pollution in communities on the frontlines; cleanup of superfund sites; investments in healthy ports; a Civilian Climate Corps and more. The Build Back Better Act is an historic opportunity to create millions of good paying jobs, boost household income, and reduce pollution in Latino communities.