MUST READ: Colorado Politics: ‘Climate warriors are no longer tilting at windmills’
“A new poll released this week suggests that voters in Colorado and other battleground states are ready to support bold action on climate, with overwhelming majorities of voters of nearly every stripe supporting an aggressive approach to a crisis that has been simmering for generations.”
Washington, D.C. – Colorado Politics’ Ernest Luning wrote about Coloradans being more likely to vote for Democratic candidates who lean into a populist, pro-worker call for climate action, citing newly released polling data from Climate Power 2020, Data for Progress and Global Strategy Group. Lunning also reported on the findings that Coloradans overwhelmingly support bold climate action, and voters find President Donald’s Trump’s favorite talking points bashing climate action and the Green New Deal both unconvincing and unbelievable.
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Climate activists and their allies believe it’s a winning issue at the ballot box this year, and, perhaps more importantly, that the tide of public opinion has turned, making possible the kind of aggressive — and expensive — approach to greenhouse gas reduction that has previously appeared impossible.
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“The polling proves it: voters are sick of the GOP’s failed leadership in the face of the existential threat that is climate change. Coloradans are already living with droughts, wildfires, melting snowcaps, and heat waves that scientists say will only get more extreme in the coming years,” said Adrian Eng-Gastelum, a spokesman for the left-leaning Climate Power 2020, which commissioned the national poll released July 16.
The poll, conducted by Global Strategy Group, surveyed 3,249 voters with an over-sampling in presidential and Senate battleground states, found that 71% of respondents “favor bold government action on climate change,” with just 19% opposed to it. The sample included 41% Republican-leaning voters, who increasingly consider climate policy as a deciding factor in their voting decisions, the pollsters said.
In addition, the poll found that voters — particularly young, Latino and self-described center-right voters — overwhelmingly support “bold” government action on climate change, with a Democrat who supports that kind of action winning over a Republican who doesn’t by 24 percentage points, a substantially higher margin than the 10 percentage point lead for Democrats found in a generic ballot choice.
“Voters do in fact have green dreams and know what’s good when it comes to climate change, good jobs, and clean energy. Democrats would be wise to go big and bold on climate,” said Julian Brave NoiseCat, vice president of policy and strategy for Democratic-aligned Data for Progress, in a statement.
The survey found that attacks against Democrats using the Green New Deal as a cudgel fall flat with voters, regardless of their ideology or political bent. While the Green New Deal has become a regular talking point in some political circles — Gardner accuses Hickenlooper of supporting the proposal, even though the Democrat was booed last year on the presidential campaign trail for telling Democrats he disagreed with the plan — among respondents, only 13% said they’ve heard much about it, and 46% say they’re unsure how they feel about it.
“The data couldn’t be more clear: Democrats can and should lean into climate, go on the offense, and campaign aggressively on climate action,” said Lori Lodes, executive director of Climate Power 2020, the poll’s sponsor.
“And the bigger and bolder, the better. There is only bad news for Trump and Republicans in this poll. Their lies about hamburgers, windmills, energy bills and cars are falling flat, and turning voters toward candidates who actually have plans to address climate change.”
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During a July 14 Zoom teleconference to announce their endorsement of Hickenlooper, former U.S. Senate candidate and House Majority Leader Alice Madden, former state Sen. Dan Grossman and state Sen. Chris Hansen held a sky’s-the-limit discussion about the possibilities of a Biden administration and Democratic-controlled Senate taking “bold action” on climate change, pointing to Hickenlooper’s record on the topic in Colorado.
“Senator Cory Gardner and President Trump are too preoccupied with pleasing the special interests and lobbyists who line their pockets and campaign coffers — and they’ve already proven that they won’t lift a finger to repair the environmental disaster they’ve caused,” Madden said.