The Green-Energy Culture Wars in Red States

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The battle over the nation’s energy future has become another front in the escalating cultural and political confrontation between what America has been and what it is becoming.

The states that are most deeply integrated into the existing fossil-fuel economy, either as producers or as consumers, tend also to be the places that are most resistant to, and separated from, the major demographic, cultural, and economic changes remaking 21st-century American life. …

This convergence of fossil-fuel dependence, cultural conservatism, and isolation from the most dynamic modern industries captures how comprehensively the two parties are divided by their exposure to, and attitudes about, the changes reshaping America. It also shows how difficult it will be to establish any consensus for national action to accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy sources, despite the mounting evidence that climate change threatens all regions of the country (and the world). CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic

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Americans’ Energy Worries Surge

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Americans are significantly more worried about the energy situation in the U.S. than they have been in a decade. Nearly half of Americans, 47%, say they worry a great deal about the availability and affordability of energy. This is up from 37% a year ago and is more than double the percentage in 2020, when energy concern was at its low point in Gallup’s trend. …

Two-thirds of Republicans now say they worry a great deal about energy availability and affordability, compared with 48% of independents and 28% of Democrats. CONTINUED

Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup

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Life Ratings Drop to 13-Month Low

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The percentage of Americans who evaluate their lives well enough to be considered “thriving” on Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index was 53.2% in February, the lowest since January 2021. Since reaching the 14-year high mark of 59.2% in June, the thriving rate has declined six percentage points. …

Overall, Republicans’ thriving rate has dropped 9.7 points since October 2020, the last month before the U.S. presidential election that saw incumbent Donald Trump lose to then-candidate Joe Biden. Democrats remain up 10.9 points, while independents now are essentially unchanged. CONTINUED

Dan Witters & Sangeeta Agrawal, Gallup

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New polls confirm Democratic problems for November

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The recently released March 7-13 Pew Research Center survey and the March 18-22 NBC News poll paint a grim picture for Democrats. Even worse for the president’s party, they offer little reason to believe that things will improve for Democrats before the November midterm elections.

After watching his performance for more than a year and hearing constant Republican attacks, voters seem to have arrived at a conclusion about President Joe Biden that makes it difficult for him to reshape this image. CONTINUED

Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call

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COVID Personal Precautions on the Decline

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Public concern about the coronavirus continues to decrease. Worries over infection remained at the same rate as February, after decreasing from the month prior, and Americans are taking fewer personal precautions than they were earlier in the year. Vaccinated adults remain more concerned and are taking more precautions than their unvaccinated peers.

Just 25% of Americans are extremely or very worried about themselves or a family member being infected with COVID-19, while 43% are not at all or not too worried. This is similar to a month ago and down from 36% who were worried in January during a spike of cases due to the omicron variant. CONTINUED

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

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Consumer Confidence Rebounds Slightly in March

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The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® increased slightly in March, after a decrease in February. The Index now stands at 107.2 (1985=100), up from 105.7 in February. The Present Situation Index—based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions—improved to 153.0 from 143.0 last month. However, the Expectations Index—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions—declined to 76.6 from 80.8. CONTINUED

Conference Board

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