As Election Day approaches, presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris continue to campaign on issues that concern many voters, including the economy, crime and immigration. What about the environment?
Recently NEO Voter Voices survey Less than 5% of people say “climate change” is their most pressing issue.
That’s why Trump, Harris and their running mates — Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Gov. Tim Walsh of Minnesota, respectively — aren’t raising the issue on the campaign trail, said Holly Swiglo, co-chair of the environmental advocacy group Sunrise Oberlin. Oberlin College.
“The main reason neither candidate is at the top of their list to speak is because the biggest concern for many undecided voters is usually not the climate,” Swiglo said. “It doesn’t mean that the candidates don’t have a climate policy or that they don’t have an opinion on climate. It’s more like their strategy and what they prefer to talk about.”
There is a bloc of climate-minded voters who look at candidates’ past statements on climate change and climate action before voting, said Spencer Dirrig, director of the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund.
“It’s not just about climate through an environmental lens,” he said, “but also about creating good-paying unions, jobs that support families, and being at the front of the pack when it comes to clean energy. Our people are our development.”
Where they stand on climate change
Trump has denied the reality of climate change, In 2022, he called it “cheating”.
Trump’s running mate Vance has changed his position over the years. He admitted The presence of climate change in 2020, was skeptical of human-caused climate change While campaigning for Senate in 2022 and now aligns with Trump on the climate front.
“He’s right in line with the Republican Party’s views on climate change,” said David Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Akron. “He’s definitely in line, he’s in line with Donald Trump’s views on climate change, and Donald Trump has a long record of being a climate change denier and going into this campaign.”
For that reason, a Trump/Vance administration would end climate investments that benefit Ohioans through the Inflation Reduction Act under the Biden Harris Administration, Dirrig said.
“These projects are not going to happen. These jobs are not going to be created and those families are not going to have, you know, lower costs to maintain their jobs,” Dirrig said. “It’s a real concern for voters and a real concern for anyone who cares about the environment.”
The Inflation Reduction Act provided funding for various clean energy projects in Northeast Ohio, including $17 million. gas stove replacement program MetroHealth and leads a $156 million collaboration solar extension program Managed by Growth Opportunity Partners.
“Vice President Harris championed and cast the decisive vote for the Detente Act, which … is the largest investment ever made in climate action, clean energy and environmental justice,” Dirrig said. “The reality is that Kamala Harris was an important part of the progress we’ve made on the climate crisis, very meaningful progress.
Additional support from the president on climate change can lead to sustainable progress and address Ohio’s environmental challenges, such as clean water and lead safety, Dirrig said.
“Kamala Harris has already made this investment and will make additional investments so that children can depend on clean water from their taps,” he said. he doesn’t want to go after those polluting our drinking water after the pollution, and he certainly wouldn’t sign it. major investment It’s built into our infrastructure to deal with leading service lines.”
They fall into fracking
Trump and Harris agree somewhat on fracking, with neither candidate wanting to move away from fossil fuels entirely. During his 2019 campaign, though, Harris said he supported a fracking ban.
Sunrise Oberlin’s Sidney Haddad said Harris’ change of position shows he knows what the American people want.
“If [Harris] If he were to be president, he would represent all 50 states,” he said. a democracy. This is not a dictatorship.”
Nearly half of Ohioans say they either “strongly support” or “somewhat support” fracking as a means of increasing national gas and oil production in the state, according to the NEO Voter Voices poll commissioned by Ideastream Public Media, Signal Cleveland and WKYC.
Even if they don’t like the idea of burning more fossil fuels, climate-conscious voters should be pragmatic when choosing candidates, Dirrig said.
“Of course we want to see continued action to move away from fossil fuels,” he said, “but that requires a lot of political support and a Congress willing to support the development of more renewable energy.”
Control of both houses of Congress must be seized on Election Day.