VOTERS REALLY CARE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Voters are ready to discuss climate change, but are the candidates talking?

Ben Goldfarb, 22 August 2012 (UK Independent)

“…As it turns out, though, both parties are wrong: this election season, promising to combat climate change is far more likely to boost a candidate’s chances than harm them. That’s the surprising conclusion of a new study from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) and George Mason University, which found that a solid majority (55%) of voters say they’ll consider a candidate’s position on global warming when they pull the lever this November.

“…[A]ccording to the study, ‘climate change issue voters’ who think that global warming is happening outnumber deniers 10 to 1. In other words, the people who care about a politician’s stance on climate change are the same ones who acknowledge climate change’s veracity…Independents resemble Democrats in their views on climate change, as a substantial majority (58%) consider global warming a vital election issue, and an even more overwhelming proportion (68%) think that addressing warming should be an important priority for elected officials…”

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“…[O]ver half of Republicans believe that global warming should be at least a medium priority…Among issue voters –– who represent, again, well over half of total voters –– a vast majority (88%) favor doing something about climate change even if it affects the economy. That is a stunning refutation of conventional wisdom…[T]he majority of Democrat, Independent, and even Republican voters support…regulating carbon dioxide…holding fossil fuel companies accountable for their external costs; and implementing a ‘revenue-neutral tax shift that increases taxes on fossil fuels and reduces the federal income tax by an equal amount’…

“…[T]he survey was conducted in March –– before the hottest month in recorded history, before the drought that has devastated crop yields across the country, and before climatologist James Hansen linked this season’s terrible wildfires to global warming…Maybe Mitt Romney, who’s never met a mild political breeze that couldn’t blow him over, would have half-heartedly promised to do something about climate change in the face of public opinion. But his alliance with Paul Ryan, who wrote in a 2009 op-ed that scientists have used “statistical tricks” to “intentionally mislead the public,” precludes any vows to act…Addressing global warming more forcefully wouldn’t cost Obama any votes, either, as the data suggest that virtually no issue voters deny global warming. Contrary to all expectations, aggressive action on climate change is a political winner in 2012…”

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