Washington, D.C. — Today, the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) released a new memo from CAP Action founder John Podesta and LCV Chair Carol Browner summarizing polling results that underscore the political opportunity and imperative for Democrats to strongly support a bold climate agenda. The memo, which comes at the same time as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Select Committee on the Climate Crisis releases its staff report, highlights the difference between Democrats and Republicans on climate change: Democrats have a plan to handle the next big crisis barreling toward the United States, which will cost lives and livelihoods without action, while Republicans do not. Voters across the political spectrum respond to that contrast. This presents a significant opportunity for Democrats in Congress, but only if they act on it, say Podesta and Browner.
“Much of the Democratic base has written off President Trump and are unlikely to support a Republican congressional candidate,” Podesta and Browner write. “But the risk with these voters—particularly younger voters and Latinx voters—is that they either skip the election or ‘drop-off’ the ballot after voting in the presidential race. Democrats have a major opportunity to energize these voters by demonstrating that climate change is a priority for them.”
The memo summarizes a Global Strategy Group survey of persuadable voters in battleground states that found strong support for generic Democratic candidates that propose taking climate action. The survey also found that voters favor, by a margin of 6 to 1, moving to a 100 percent clean energy economy by 2050 through investments in clean energy as a way to rebuild from the current recession.
“Simply put: if these voters don’t hear Democrats talking about this issue, they won’t believe it is a priority for them,” Podesta and Browner write. “Democrats will unquestionably be more trusted than Republicans on tackling the issue of climate change, but Democratic base voters need to believe that Democrats are committed to addressing the crisis.”
Today’s report from the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis is a step in the right direction, putting forward a bold, ambitious, and comprehensive strategy to act on climate. Now, Democrats need to take that home to their districts and hold Republicans accountable for their inaction, embracing the solutions their constituents are demanding.
Read the memo here.
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