The growing power and anger of climate change voters

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For the first time in a presidential cycle, the Democrats had a mainstream candidate – Jay Inslee, governor of Washington, leading a campaign focused on climate change. Since Inslee left the country last month, his former rivals have sworn to replace him – the Massachusetts Senator, Elizabeth Warren, has literally adopted Inslee's plan on climate change, while it's not the same. she and nine other candidates were preparing for CNN's only climate-focused public session. crisis.

Climate change has received little attention during the 2016 presidential campaign. But there has been a noticeable change in the mid-term elections of 2018, said Tiernan Sittenfeld, first vice president. Government Affairs at the League of Conservation Voters. Candidates alarmed by the inaction of Republicans have been drawn into congressional races across the country.

"In 2018, we have seen a significant change in the number of climate change candidates like never before, and that has only increased, as we see in the presidential election," Sittenfeld said. . "I think – if not all candidates close to each candidate – who will be on the scene (CNN mayor) has presented an ambitious and comprehensive plan to combat the climate crisis." This question finally begins to attract the attention that she deserves. "

The growing alarm is more pronounced among young voters. John Della Volpe, director of the Harvard Kennedy School Policy Institute survey, said climate change "is now considered a priority concern in both domestic and foreign policy frameworks" for 18- 29 years old, although she still ranks behind health care, the economy and immigration.

In the Institute's spring survey, environmental protection ranked third (33%) in foreign policy priorities, behind the protection of human rights and prevention the rise of terrorist groups.

Jon Krosnick, professor of political science and communication at Stanford University, who leads the research group in political psychology, notes that although no problem dominates the psyche of American voters, his research shows that climate change becomes a more important motivator for a larger group of people. .

According to Mr. Krosnick, for 2018, the percentage of Americans who think that global warming is extremely important reaches 20%, according to a study conducted by the research group in political psychology at Stanford University . In 1997, this number was only 9%, according to the group's research.

"One in five Americans – that's very big," said Krosnick. "It was a big problem when it was 17%, 15% and 11%, but it's now a bigger problem."

The systematic elimination of environmental regulations by Trump – changes that he has defined as an effort to improve government efficiency, reduce red tape and boost the economy – a drew more attention to these issues and angered the Democrats.

Shortly after taking office, Trump retired from the Paris Climate Agreement. This decision, he said, was aimed at helping US industry and demanding fair treatment of US taxpayers. It has weakened the fuel economy targets set by the Obama administration and revoked the US water regime, which had altered the definition of wetlands and rivers that would be protected by federal regulations. His administration also sought to reduce the size of national monuments – including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah – and to open more public lands for logging, mining and drilling.
In March, the Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that the EPA had exceeded its targets by reducing environmental regulations in the first two years of the year. the administration after Trump had ordered federal agencies to control costs by lowering regulations.
He ridiculed the "Green New Deal" proposed by the Democrats as an exorbitant and unnecessary cost – a political disagreement that may weigh heavily during the parliamentary elections.

"Every week, the Republican political agenda is progressing more and more, and the bottom line is that there is plenty of evidence of Trump's dismantling of environmental protection in so many ways – including as far as emissions and support for the fossil fuel industry are concerned, "said Krosnick. "We have this, this really productive president who is doing very well in getting his rules down."

These actions "will be very motivating" for voters concerned about climate change, he said.

"We have a president who encourages them to move on," Krosnick said. "So I think they're going to be a big and important force in elections." The turnout will be high in this group, because they'll see the difference (between Republican and Democrat candidates) unless the Democratic candidate chooses not to talk about the environment or chooses to talk about the environment rarely and fake. "

Growing alarms about climate change have been revealed, poll after poll. A survey conducted by Quinnipiac University at the end of August revealed that 56% of registered voters in the country thought climate change was an emergency. These figures were much higher among Democrats (84%) and Independents (63%). In contrast, 81% of Republicans said they did not believe that climate change was an emergency.

Since Quinnipiac started asking the question in 2015, 67 percent of voters said the US was not doing enough to fight climate change.

Historically, young voters were more concerned about climate change than older age groups – and although anxiety is growing among older Americans, this gap remains.

A Gallup poll earlier this year, for example, found that 60% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 believe that global warming will be a significant threat in their lifetime, compared to only 35% of older Americans. (Overall, 66% of American adults said they believe that global warming is caused by human activities).
Young voters are particularly alarmed: 79% of adults aged 18 to 34 say they worry a lot or enough about global warming, compared to 62% of those aged 55 and over.

There is still a strong partisan split on the issue, which aligns with Trump's ongoing tweet about this issue and his assertion that the press dramatizes it. Gallup found that 12 percent of Republicans said they were "very concerned" about global warming, compared to more than two-thirds of Democrats (69 percent).

There are also regional differences in attitudes to climate change. Gallup found that 67 percent of Northeastern and Western residents, for example, estimated that global warming had already begun, compared to 60 percent in the Midwest and 53 percent in the South.

The growing call on the government to act more against climate change has encouraged environmental advocates such as Sittenfeld, who said he was forcing candidates to make this issue a central part of their political agenda. while seeking to establish links with democrats and independents.

"Even if Trump continues to deny climate change, Mitch McConnell (the leader of the majority), and both prevent progress and slow them down whenever they can, these polls show how disconnected they are. voters, including Republican voters, "said Sittenfeld. "By continuing to please polluters, they endanger the rest of the elected members of their party."

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