Oil and Gas Companies Have Too Much Power
By Jason Katz-Brown and Danielle Deiseroth
While climate science has become politically polarized, new Data for Progress polling finds a bipartisan consensus rejecting the oil and gas industry’s grip on Washington. After reading recent quotes from an Exxon lobbyist, roughly two-thirds of likely voters think oil and gas companies have too much power, including almost half of Republicans; and more than half of voters of both parties disapprove of influential U.S. senators meeting with Exxon lobbyists every week.
While extreme weather continues to worsen, and with historic heat waves and droughts occurring from coast to coast this summer, advocates for climate action are pressing lawmakers in Congress to pass legislation that meets the moment and addresses the scale of the climate catastrophe. With the clock running out, many in the climate movement think that the budget reconciliation proposal that Democrats in Congress are currently negotiating may be the last, best chance to take ambitious action before the worst impacts of climate change become irreversible.
Why have lawmakers failed to take action to address the climate crisis for decades? While there are myriad reasons, one stands out: the enormous anti-science, anti-climate influence that oil and gas corporations wield over lawmakers in Congress. As Keith McCoy, Senior Director of Federal Relations at Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest oil and gas producer in the U.S., stated last month in a secretly-recorded interview by Greenpeace:
"Did we aggressively fight against some of the science? Yes. Did we hide our science, absolutely not. Did we join some of these 'shadow groups' to work against some of the early efforts? Yes, that's true. But there's nothing illegal about that. You know, we were looking out for our investments, we were looking out for our shareholders."
–Exxon Senior Director Keith McCoy
While Exxon has since apologized and disavowed McCoy’s statements, the interview has drawn renewed attention to the influence of corporate oil and gas lobbyists as President Biden and lawmakers in Congress attempt to pass historic climate change legislation. Previous Data for Progress polling found that more than 8 in 10 likely voters, in a broad bipartisan consensus, think oil and gas companies have a responsibility to address climate change; and that voters across party lines further agree that Exxon specifically has a responsibility to address climate change. Continuing this research, in a July survey, we explored voter sentiment towards the oil and gas industry’s climate lobbying and influence in Washington. We also conducted a messaging experiment to understand how McCoy’s claims about Exxon’s influence in Washington impacts voters’ perceptions about the power of oil and gas corporations.
First, we asked likely voters whether they thought oil and gas companies have too much power, the right amount of power, or too little power. Over half of all likely voters (57 percent) think that oil and gas companies have too much power, compared to just over a third of voters (37 percent) who think they have the right amount of power and only 6 percent who think oil and gas companies do not have enough power. Notably, this represents a bipartisan consensus: 39 percent of Republicans think oil and gas companies have too much power, while only 11 percent of Republicans think oil and gas companies have too little power.
We then asked survey respondents to read the above quote from McCoy, as well as an additional statement he made about meeting frequently with certain congressional offices:
“Joe Manchin, I talk to his office every week, he is the kingmaker on this because he's a Democrat from West Virginia which is a very conservative state…
"Obviously, the Republicans, we have great relationships with the senators where we have assets…
"The 2022 class [of U.S. senators] is focused on re-election so I know I have them…
"So you can have those conversations with them because they're a captive audience. They know they need you and I need them."
–Exxon Senior Director Keith McCoy
After reading these two quotes, voters were significantly more likely to think that oil and gas companies have excessive power: 63 percent of likely voters thought oil and gas companies have too much power, an increase of 6 percentage-points from before reading the quotes. While both Democrats and Independents moved towards thinking oil and gas companies have too much power, sentiment shifted most dramatically among Republicans. After reading the quotes, 48 percent of Republicans thought oil and gas companies have too much power, up 9 points from before reading the quotes. Whether this change can be attributed to increasing climate concern among Republicans or broad anti-corporate attitudes remains an outstanding question. In any case, it is clear that learning the extent of Exxon’s lobbying influence moves Republicans to think oil and gas corporations are too powerful.
We also asked voters before and after showing McCoy’s quotes whether they think influential lawmakers should talk weekly with Exxon lobbyists, as McCoy claimed. Even before hearing the quotes, likely voters thought influential lawmakers should not talk to Exxon lobbyists every week, by a 20-point margin (51 percent to 31 percent). After reading McCoy’s quotes, this stance strengthened to a 24-point margin (54 percent to 30 percent). Voters across party lines broadly reject the prospect of lawmakers meeting weekly with Exxon: Democrats by an 18-point margin, Independents by a 39-point margin, and Republicans by a 20-point margin. It is notable that Republicans and Independents are the most emphatically against senators’ coziness with Exxon lobbyists, suggesting that there is deep anti-corporate sentiment among these voters.
While climate change has become a polarized issue — especially among Republicans — it is clear that there is broad, bipartisan consensus around fighting corporate influence in politics. After reading McCoy’s claims about Exxon’s outsized influence in Washington, attitudes among Independents and Republicans shifted more towards thinking oil and gas companies have too much power. Our polling suggests that as advocates seek to broaden their coalition to pass climate change legislation, portraying corporate actors like Exxon as impediments to legislative action can resonate among groups typically less likely to support climate action, like Republicans.
Oil and gas companies architected a decades-long impasse on climate change legislation. With voters increasingly opposed to the influence of corporations in politics — and increasingly in support of climate action — lawmakers must escape the grip of oil and gas lobbyists and address the scale of the climate crisis.
Postscript: “Oil and Gas” vs “Fossil Fuel”
To assess whether voters’ attitudes are impacted by phrasing choices, we split respondents into two groups: one seeing questions including the phrase “oil and gas companies”, and the other seeing the phrase “fossil fuel companies”. We found that voters are significantly more likely to think that “oil and gas companies” have too much power (57 percent) compared to “fossil fuel companies” (43 percent). Further experimentation is merited, but this initial result suggests that voters have a more concrete brand association with “oil and gas”:
Jason Katz-Brown (@jasonkatzbrown) is the CTO of Data for Progress.
Danielle Deiseroth (@danielledeis) is the Senior Climate Data Analyst at Data for Progress.
Methodology
From July 2 to 26, 2021, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 2,399 likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±2 percentage points.