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The U.S. attitude toward global climate governance is volatile, and its behavior is often constrained by its domestic politics. Studying the implementation of climate policy at the state level in the United States from the perspective of party politics and political polarization in the United States can provide important lessons for climate governance practices. Through a panel data model, this research analyzes the relationship between the party affiliations of governors in all 50 U.S. states and carbon dioxide emissions from 1997 to 2020. Based on this, the connection between political polarization and climate governance is discussed. Results indicate that the party affiliations of U.S. state governors significantly impact carbon dioxide emissions in their respective states; American democracy has the inherent flaw of failing to fulfill electoral promises; U.S. party politics is not conducive to the stable, long-term development of climate policies. These results reflect deeper societal contradictions and divides in the U.S., and the political polarization epitomized by the climate governance issue will have serious spillover effects on global climate governance.