Voter Support for the Inflation Reduction Act Continues as Law Reaches Its Two-Year Anniversary
By William Diep
This August marked the two-year anniversary of the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and new polling finds voters continue to support the policies set forth in the landmark climate bill.
From August 23 to 27, 2024, Data for Progress surveyed national likely voters to gauge support for the IRA’s climate and health care policies. Despite their limited knowledge of the IRA, voters continue to support its investments in pollution reduction and policies to lower health care and prescription drug costs. Voters also believe the IRA will benefit middle-income and low-income Americans and strengthen the U.S.’s clean energy, technology, health care, and manufacturing industries.
About 7 in 10 voters have heard at least “a little” about the IRA. When asked whether they support or oppose the IRA, 71% of voters, including 89% of Democrats, 72% of Independents, and 52% of Republicans, say they support the law, in line with levels of support reported previously by Data for Progress.
In a split test, respondents were given two descriptions of the IRA’s benefits, the first focused on lowering costs and the second focused on job creation. There is no meaningful difference in support for the IRA between the two groups, with the IRA testing at 72% under the costs framing and 74% under the jobs framing. These results suggest that either framing can be used when talking about the accomplishments of the IRA.
Voters were also asked about seven climate and four health care components of the bill, each of which receives support from at least two-thirds of voters overall, including majority support across party lines.
The most popular climate provision of the IRA is the bill’s standards that ensure businesses receiving government clean energy tax credits pay their workers a fair wage and make their goods in America (79% support), followed by grants for air pollution reduction (76% support).
Voters also support the provisions that will increase the production of American-made clean energy technologies (74%), provide up to $14,000 per household in rebates on home energy efficiency investments (72%), penalize oil and gas companies that have pumped excess methane into the air (72%), invest in pollution reduction and public health in disadvantaged communities (71%), and provide tax credits for businesses that produce clean electricity (69%).
Support for these climate provisions has remained steady since a previous Data for Progress survey fielded around the first anniversary of the law.
When asked about the health care components of the bill, likely voters continue to show strong support for:
Capping the cost of insulin at $35 per month for people on Medicare (85% support);
Allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with drug companies to lower the prices of 20 drugs per year (84% support);
Capping prescription drug prices so that no one on Medicare will pay more than $2,000 a year for prescription drugs starting in 2025 (83% support); and
Lowering Affordable Care Act health care premiums for working families (80% support).
A majority of respondents say workers or those seeking work (64%), middle- and lower-class Americans (62%), local governments (62%), state governments (61%), small businesses (57%), and big companies (51%) will benefit, either greatly or somewhat, from the IRA. Only 48% of respondents say upper-class Americans will benefit from the bill.
The survey also finds that likely voters believe key industries will grow as a result of the IRA, rather than shrink. A majority of respondents believe that the clean energy (64%) and technology (54%) industries will grow due to the IRA. Pluralities of voters believe that the health care (48%) and manufacturing (46%) industries will grow due to the IRA, as well.
A plurality of respondents (45%) believe that the fossil fuel industry, which faces financial penalties based on the number of metric tons of methane that companies release, will shrink as a result of the IRA.
Finally, voters were asked whether they think the U.S. should prioritize investing in clean energy and new technologies or increasing existing oil and gas production. A majority of likely voters (57%) think the nation should prioritize investments in clean energy and new technologies to increase the number of jobs, strengthen our economy, and produce sustainable clean energy. In contrast, only 37% say the U.S. should increase existing oil and gas production to ensure we can keep American manufacturing and the power grid running reliably with a steady supply of energy.
Two years after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, voters continue to support the bill’s policy provisions related to climate and health care, as well as its efforts to expand domestic clean energy, technology, health care, and manufacturing industries.
William Diep (@WilliamDiep6) is a communications intern at Data for Progress.