CBS News poll: Eye on Earth - can fighting climate change be good economics?

Arguments about the environment through the years have often been framed as strict tradeoffs between either helping it or helping the economy. Naturally, that's reflected in a lot of our old poll questions over four decades of surveys, with a steady run of climate-or-costs-types of choices offered; would you pick the environment or the jobs? But for those urging more climate action today — and certainly for gauging some of the Biden administration's recent arguments — a key public opinion test may have shifted: now it may be whether people think action could also be good economics. 

The answer, we found, is mixed. On one hand, more people say efforts to fight climate change help the economy than hurt it — and by double digits. On the other hand, that "help" number still isn't quite a majority coalition, as a sizable quarter do not see a connection between what the U.S. does to fight climate change and the nation's economy. (Maybe that means they'll stay neutral, leaving the "help" view in the plurality, or maybe that's the group to watch, to see if they move either way over time. They're a little older, and working class, more so than those who think it'll help.)