Voters Don’t Want Retirement Funds Invested in Oil and Gas — Especially Not Their Own

By Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow and Jason Katz-Brown, CTO of Data for Progress

  • Voters of all parties do not want their retirement account put at risk in oil and gas investments, by a +29-point margin.

  • Our new poll identifies an opportunity to frame climate finance as a personal issue affecting everyone’s retirement.

Retirement funds such as pensions and corporate 401(k) plans hold a significant number of oil and gas companies in their portfolios, putting Americans’ savings at risk. Public pension systems across the country, like those in New York and Baltimore, have committed to eliminating investments in oil and gas companies, but progress is uneven — for example, California’s continued investments in oil and gas have lost billions for California’s public employees and teachers, and other public pensions’ private equity investments have funded environmental disasters.

Voters do not want their own retirement account invested in oil and gas, but are less sure about others’

In a national survey of likely voters conducted from late December 2021 to early January 2022, we find that by a +29-point margin, people don’t want their own retirement account (e.g. their 401(k), IRA, or pension fund) invested in oil and gas companies. This represents a bipartisan consensus: A plurality of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans all agree their own retirement accounts should not be invested in oil and gas. 

In comparison, by a +13-point margin, people don’t want retirement accounts in general invested in oil and gas. Across all political parties, voters are more likely to think their own retirement account should not be invested in oil and gas than that retirement accounts in general should not be invested in oil and gas. For example, Independent voters, by a +33-point margin, think their own retirement account should not be invested in oil and gas, compared to only a +6-point margin for retirement accounts in general.

Independent and Republican voters are also less likely to respond “Don’t know” when asked about their own retirement account, demonstrating that these voters are more confident of how their own retirement account should be invested than others’.

 
 

Asking first about one’s own retirement account reframes climate finance as a personal issue

Our survey further demonstrates that it can be beneficial to frame climate finance questions in the context of one’s personal situation. We find voters less supportive of all retirement accounts being invested in oil and gas when they are first asked about their own retirement account.

If you start out asking about “your retirement account,” voters don’t want their own retirement account invested in oil and gas (by a +29-point margin as described above).

Then, if you ask the same voters about “retirement accounts in general,” they remain steadfast, by a +26-point margin, that retirement accounts in general should not be invested in oil and gas.

In contrast, if you start out asking about “retirement accounts in general”, you get only a +13-point margin, far lower than if you first ask about “your retirement account.”

This pattern holds across partisanship: For Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, asking first about one’s own retirement account makes a voter more likely to think retirement accounts in general should not be invested in oil and gas.

 
 

Conclusion

Voters save for their retirement their entire lives, and do not want to see decades’ worth of savings put at risk in oil and gas investments. Moreover, as climate finance sees increased scrutiny from the Fed to the corporate boardroom, there is a significant opportunity to make the issue more accessible by framing climate finance as a personal issue.

Jason Katz-BrownWorkers Rights, Climate