CCS Awareness and Favorability Significantly Increasing, According to Public Opinion Survey
The Houston CCS Alliance recently published its latest public opinion tracking survey of likely voters in the Houston area, which showed a significant increase in awareness and opinion of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology and the Houston CCS Hub.
Awareness of CCS technology among likely voters increased to 50%, a 16% uptick since the last survey. Favorability and trust also rose to 54% and 51%, respectively, both marking 19% increases.
The Houston Hub also gained significantly across all three metrics, improving 22% in awareness, 20% in favorability, and 21% in trust.
When broken down by party, Republican likely voters had the largest increases in their awareness, favorability, and trust of both CCS technology and the Houston CCS Hub. Republican likely voters increased their awareness, favorability, and trust of CCS by 35%, 38%, and 35%, respectively. With awareness, favorability, and trust in the Houston CCS Hub, Republican likely voters’ support was even more pronounced, increasing 41%, 41%, and 35%, respectively.
Swing voters’ support across these categories also made significant gains. For the Houston CCS Hub, awareness among swing likely voters increased 11%, favorability increased 12%, and trust increased 18%.
However, the most interesting results came from questions about vote impact and intent to act. According to the survey, 74% of Houston-area likely voters would be more likely to vote for an elected official if they support the construction of large-scale CCS infrastructure. Broken down by party, Republican support increased to 70%—a 22% increase—while Democratic support rose to 73%—a 3% uptick. Finally, 80% of likely voters and 78% of likely Republican voters are willing to act in support of the creation of the Houston CCS Hub. This marks an 11% increase among likely voters and an astonishing 24% gain among Republican likely voters.
The results of this public opinion survey mark an important shift in favorability for CCS and are encouraging as we continue to work to advance carbon capture and storage in Houston and across the Gulf Coast.
Click here to see the survey one-pager.
