By Marcela Mulholland and Ethan Winter

As global demand for oil plummets, fossil fuel companies are finding themselves in an increasingly precarious position, one that likely requires government intervention. While the Trump Administration has considered providing federal assistance to oil companies, some climate advocates are trying to frame an alternative, pushing a plan for the government to take on public ownership of fossil fuel companies. As part of a March survey, Data for Progress tested attitudes to such a proposal. Specifically, we posed voters the following question:

Congress is considering providing financial assistance such as short term loans, financing and cash infusions (commonly called a "bailout") to the fossil fuel industry, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Some Democrats in Congress have proposed having the government take an ownership stake in companies that receive bailout funding. Democrats say that the federal government would be able to influence decisions in the interest of taxpayers, workers, and the environment. Republicans say that the government should not be trying to take ownership in public and this would kill job and economic growth. Do you support or oppose this proposal?

We found that opinions were divided but there was surprisingly high levels of support for such an ambitious proposal. Overall, voters were split on the issue (39 percent support, 39 percent oppose). Voters under the age of forty-five support this proposal by a 21-point margin (52 percent support, 31 percent oppose). While white voters oppose the proposal by 6 points (37 percent support, 43 percent oppose), black voters favor it by 22 points (50 percent support, 28 percent oppose). Looking at responses broken out by partisanship, a majority of Democrats support the policy (52 percent support, 26 percent oppose), while a majority of Republicans oppose it (30 percent support, 56 percent oppose).