Fighting emissions regulations by the
Environmental Protection Agency must be a winning national electoral
issue, right? Otherwise why would so many politicians fight so hard to
allow power plants to keep spewing pollution into the air?
Um,
not so much. An overwhelming majority of voters in swing states across
the country support EPA action to limit the amount of carbon power
plants can emit, according to a new survey from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV).
By
wide margins, voters in 11 states considered in play for 2014 Senate
elections not only support emissions regulation, but trust EPA to
administer the policy and say they’re less likely to vote for candidates
who either oppose EPA’s proposal or deny climate change.
EPA regulations poll results chart via LCV/Huffington Post
Wide Support For EPA Across State & Party Lines
74% of voters support EPA’s proposals to limit power plant emissions.
That support cuts across states Barack Obama (73%) and Mitt Romney
(73%) as well as party identification for Democrats (92%), independents
(72%), and Republicans (58%). “The anti-environmental message is a
losing argument with the American people,” blogged Gene Karpinski, LCV President.
The
LCV poll derived these findings from telephone interviews on October
9-13 with 1,113 likely voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia,
Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and
Virginia.
It’s also probably not
surprising to learn the public wants EPA to regulate emissions, not
Congress. At the height of the government shutdown, voters preferred EPA
regulation to Congressional action by a 5-to-1 margin, 66% to 12%
Anti-EPA Stance & Climate Denial Cost Votes
In
fact, EPA opposition may actually turn out to be a harmful policy
position for 2014 candidates. Nearly half (48%) of all voters said they
would be less likely to vote for a candidate who opposed emissions
regulation, while only 17% said they’d be more likely to vote for that
candidate. By comparison, 44% of voters said they’d be more likely to
vote for a candidate who supported power plant emissions regulations by
EPA.
When presented with both sides
of the argument (war on coal, higher electricity prices, and job killer
were used against regulation while climate change, public health, and
protecting the planet were used for regulation), 64% of voters said they
wanted their senator to support EPA’s proposal.
Those same trends translate to voter perceptions about the threat of climate change.
65% of voters say climate change is a serious problem nationwide, and
surprisingly say so at a higher rate in Romney states (67%) compared to
Obama states (64%).
And if
candidates deny climate change, they may be shooting their campaigns in
the foot. 63% of voters said hearing their Senate candidate deny climate
change would make them view the candidate less favorably than one
recognizing basic science.
Pro-Climate Trends Taking Shape One Year Out
Election Day 2014 could be a major turning point
for clean energy and climate policy – if Republicans keep the House of
Representatives and take control of the Senate, action would grind to a
halt for the rest of Obama’s term. However, if Democrats cut into the
GOP’s House majority and hold the Senate, Obama could cement his
progressive legacy by pushing through renewables support and emissions
reduction goals.
LCV’s latest survey tracks with a bipartisan poll from July 2013 that found young voters “intensely supportive” of action to fight climate change,
and willing to punish those who ignore the problem. Now that those
trends are showing up across the wider US population, on broader policy
fronts, it might just be time to scrap that climate-denier, anti-EPA
playbook.
http://theenergycollective.com/silviomarcacci/295946/74-voters-back-epa-power-plant-emissions-regulation
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