We also asked YouGov Blue to survey the Green New Deal. Our YouGov survey asked, “Would you support or oppose a Green New Deal to end fossil fuel use in the United States and have the government create clean energy jobs? The plan would be paid for by raising taxes, including a tax on carbon emissions.” With this framing, 43 percent of registered voters expressed support, with 38 percent opposed and the rest unsure.

Not all parts of the Green New Deal are popular. In our polling with Civis, a full shift to electric cars by 2030 and the phasing out of all power plants by 2035 were both underwater. And there is no doubt that some additional parts will lose support after facing a right-wing onslaught. On the other hand, policies like green jobs, drinking water infrastructure and reforestation were wildly popular. Clean water had net support in every state in the country, and reforestation is underwater in Wyoming only. In other words, there is no part in the country where at least some aspects of the Green New Deal will not be winning issues.

New polling from 350 Action and Data for Progress conducted by YouGov Blue shows that rejecting fossil fuel money is popular (49 percent support their representatives refusing campaign contributions from fossil fuel PACs, with 19 percent opposed and the rest unsure). A “keep it in the ground” approach to energy policy that would phase out fossil fuel infrastructure in favor of renewable alternatives garnered even more support (56 percent in support, 26 percent opposed). “Climate policy might befuddle Democratic leadership, but the grass roots knows what’s up,” Julian Brave Noisecat, a policy analyst for 350 Action, told me.

The core challenge the Green New Deal faces is not so much on the merits of the concept or even its political feasibility; it is that many of its Democratic supporters have met an aggressive and one-sided onslaught from the right with very little by way of response. According to data shared with The Times from Navigator, a progressive polling project, 37 percent of Republican viewers of Fox News had heard “a lot” about the Green New Deal, compared with 14 percent of all registered voters. Only 6 percent of non-Republican, non-Fox viewers had heard “a lot” about the Green New Deal, and 40 percent had heard nothing at all (compared with 14 percent of Republican viewers of Fox News).

Across all registered voters who had heard about the Green New Deal, 32 percent reported seeing mostly negative coverage, 12 percent mostly positive, 42 percent a mix and the rest couldn’t recall. (Among Fox-viewing Republicans, it’s 68 percent, 4 percent, 24 percent and 4 percent.)

We’re seeing in real time the impact of right-wing attacks. When asked simply, “Based on what you know, do you support or oppose the Green New Deal?,” 22 percent of respondents are in support, 29 percent are opposed and 49 percent are not sure. But 74 percent of Fox-viewing Republicans oppose the Green New Deal (65 percent strongly), and only 21 percent have not formed an opinion. Among people who are not Republicans and not Fox viewers, 32 percent support the Green New Deal, 8 percent oppose it and a whopping 61 percent have not formed an opinion. (Navigator polling shows that Fox News viewers are also far more likely to deny climate change.)

Though many components of the Green New Deal are popular, the Republican propaganda machine has already reshaped the narrative, and it has done so with virtually no coordinated pushback from progressives, or certainly nowhere near enough, a worrying pattern. Tuesday’s Senate vote, where Democrats were urged by their leaders to take no stance at all and vote present, however expedient, is indicative of the broader trend — a defensive crouch from Democrats in response to an onslaught from the right.

The Green New Deal is the future of the Democratic Party: Among likely Democratic primary voters in our Civis polling, 71 percent supported the Green New Deal and 14 percent opposed it. Democrats should not be afraid to embrace it, and Republicans who mess with it — despite the temporary success of their aggressive tactics — will do so at their own risk.

Sean McElwee (@SeanMcElwee) is one of the founder of Data for Progress.

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