Many Conservative Republicans Believe Climate Change Is a Real Threat

September 29, 2015

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by Coral Davenport (The New York Times) A majority of Republicans — including 54 percent of self-described conservative Republicans — believe the world’s climate is changing and that mankind plays some role in the change, according to a new survey conducted by three prominent Republican pollsters.

The results echo a number of other recent surveys concluding that despite the talk of many of the party’s candidates, a significant number of Republicans and independent voters are inclined to support candidates who would back some form of climate action. It may also point to a problem facing Republicans seeking their party’s presidential nomination: The activists who crowd town hall meetings and Republican presidential caucuses and primaries might not reflect the broader attitude of even the Republican electorate.

The survey was commissioned by Jay Faison, a North Carolina businessman who calls himself a conservative Republican and has announced that he intends to spend $10 million on efforts to lobby Republicans to embrace the issue of climate change. He has spent $165 million to start a nonprofit foundation, ClearPath, aimed at promoting climate change and clean energy policies that could appeal to conservatives.

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The survey asked respondents to react to a series of proposed policy solutions to climate change, ranging from E.P.A. regulations to the imposition of a carbon pollution tax on electric utilities, which would then be rebated to consumers.

Only 10 percent of Republicans said they would support E.P.A. regulations — which are designed to cut the use of fossil fuels as a source of electricity, and greatly ramp up the use of wind and solar power. But 83 percent of Republicans said the nation should ramp up the use of such energy sources.

And while Mr. Obama’s efforts to push some form of price on carbon pollution failed in Congress, the Republicans’ survey found that 54 percent of conservative Republicans would support a carbon tax if the money were rebated, and 54 percent supported a five-year tax credit to promote renewable energy. READ MORE and MORE (ClearPath) and MORE (Business Insider) and MORE (Weekly Standard)

Excerpt from the ClearPath website: 79% Support so America is less dependent on energy from the Middle East; 80% Support so America will have cleaner, healthier air and less pollution READ MORE

Excerpt from Business Insider: Only 10% of conservative respondents said they strongly agreed with a candidate who calls for more Environmental Protection Agency regulations to curb the effects of climate change. But 82% said that they'd support a candidate who called for the expansion of clean-energy investment "regardless of the debate over climate, because it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce air pollution, and improve public health."

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Still, conservative voters were particularly drawn to several arguments in favor of increasing investment in clean energy: It keeps the air clean, it keeps the US safer from foreign-energy dependency and attacks, it creates jobs, and it helps the US win in an economic race with China.

Here are some notable findings from the poll:

Conservatives responded best to the idea that clean energy improves US energy independence and homeland security. 64% of conservative respondents said they supported accelerating growth of the clean-energy sector in order to free the US from reliance on foreign oil. Conservatives also supported how clean-energy implementation would help ease the burden of the US electrical grid, softening the damage of a hypothetical terrorist attack.

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Conservative politicians lose independent voters as soon as they brush off climate change. Independents told pollsters they'd be far more likely to support a candidate who described climate change as an "urgent" challenge directly over a candidate who said, "The science around climate change is not at all clear, so the government should focus on other, more important issues."
69% of conservative Republicans said they agree that investing in clean energy is an important way for the US to keep up with growing clean energy economies in China and other countries. READ MORE

Excerpt from Weekly Standard: ... GOP candidates would do well with an energy agenda that emphasizes energy security, rather than a changing climate) some less intuitive results offer advice to GOP candidates about what not to do. Namely, while Republicans probably shouldn’t try to run on clean- energy issues, running against them probably won’t help either.

The data show that clean energy issues are actually pretty popular even amongst the conservative base. READ MORE