Tony Leiserowitz, director of Yale’s climate change communications program, says this disconnect between climate change and policy is widespread.
“We find that across the board, at all levels of government, government officials dramatically underestimate the level of support from their own constituents,” Leiserowitz said.
“Voters’ preferences and priorities”
Other Yale polls found that global warming ranked 19th out of 28 issues considered in choosing a presidential candidate. It ranked higher among Democratic voters and lower among Republican voters.
Republican voters ranked the economy and inflation as the top two issues.
“There’s a huge disconnect between voters’ preferences and their priorities. And you know, politicians have limited time and money and limited ability to communicate with voters,” said Nathaniel Stinnett, founder and director of the Environmental Voter Project.
In California, a state that has typically been a leader in environmental laws and regulations, some local officials are reluctant to change too quickly.
Surprisingly, some Democratic lawmakers vote against environmental legislation, despite broad public support for climate action.
California Rep. Blanca Rubio said her votes reflect the financial realities her constituents face, not climate change denial.
“Not every community can afford the policy we’re adopting,” Rubio said, pointing to the state’s clean-car regulations, which ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Experts warn the state may not have the infrastructure to support the shift.
“Often we vote on bills based on hopes and dreams,” Rubio said.
Jobs are also a key issue. While clean energy jobs now make up more than half of California’s energy workforce, fossil fuel jobs pay 50 percent more on average because of stronger unions.
Sen. Melissa Hurtado, who represents the state’s largest oil-producing region, supports reducing emissions but stresses the need to protect local jobs.
“We have to think about what’s going to sustain our economy and what’s going to keep people employed,” Hurtado said.
New environmental laws have injected money and jobs into the economy
While California Democrats may believe that some climate policies hurt their constituents, across the country, many districts are seeing millions of dollars in investment and new jobs created because of climate policy.
This is especially true in conservative congressional districts where all representatives voted against the inflation-reduction bill.
