Voters in the Evergreen state want to make Big Oil pay

New polling finds that Washington state voters want to hold oil and gas executives accountable for the climate damages they knowingly caused.

Washington is known for its leadership on the climate crisis, which is already bearing down on its residents with more frequent and severe storms, chronic flooding, and record temperature changes that devastate public health, wildlife, local economies and critical infrastructure. But the costs of adapting and rebuilding communities is only increasing, and Washingtonians can’t afford to foot the bill on their own.

According to the Center for Climate Integrity’s recent polling, residents are ready for the state to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for their fair share of those costs, given that fossil fuel executives spent decades lying about climate change to delay action and protect their profits. 

A majority of voters (61%) support suing oil and gas companies to hold them accountable for the impacts of their products and recover at least some of the costs of climate damages and adaptation. Voters were particularly moved when they learned about oil company deception and prior knowledge of climate change, which produced a  significant increase in the number who believe that oil and gas companies should be most responsible for the costs of adapting to climate change (+19%).  

Interestingly, when it comes to climate litigation, Republicans, Hispanic voters, and voters aged 35-54 were most persuadable and more supportive of litigation after messaging -- but suing oil companies was a popular concept across the board.

Even before learning more about the fossil fuel industry’s history of climate denial and deception, Washingtonians were clearly eager for climate action -- especially from the private sector, with 73% of voters saying that corporations should be doing more to combat the climate crisis.  

These numbers are in line with polls conducted by the Center for Climate Integrity and Climate Nexus in other states — including Minnesota, where Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a consumer fraud suit against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute in the summer of 2020. 

The results are clear: Voters across the Evergreen State support holding polluters accountable for the costs associated with climate change. You can read the full results of our survey here.