As Election Day approaches, presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris continue to campaign on issues that are top of mind for many voters, such as the economy, crime and immigration. But what about the environment?
One last one NEO Voter Voices poll shows that less than 5% of people say “climate change” is the most pressing issue for them.
Because of that, Trump, Harris and their running mate — Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — aren’t pushing the issue on the campaign trail, said Holly Swiglo, co-director of Sunrise Oberlin, a environmental advocacy organization at Oberlin College.
“The main reason it hasn’t been at the top of their list for candidates to talk about is because the biggest concern for many undecided voters is usually not the climate,” Swiglo said. “That doesn’t mean the candidates don’t have climate policies or don’t have climate views. It’s just like their strategy and what they prioritize talking about.”
But there is a bloc of climate-minded voters who are looking at candidates’ past statements on climate change and climate action before casting their ballots, said Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund Director Spencer Dirrig.
“Not just about climate in an environmental lens,” he said, “but climate when it comes to creating a good-paying union, stable family jobs and clean energy, being at the top of the pack when it comes to to be a pro-clean energy nation on our development”.
Where do they stand on climate change?
Trump has denied the reality of climate change, calling it “a hoax,” in 2022.
Vance, Trump’s running mate, changed his stance over the years. He accepted it existence of climate change in 2020, was skeptical of human-caused climate change while campaigning for Senate in 2022 and now aligned with Trump on the climate front.
“He’s in line with the Republican party’s view on climate change,” said David Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Akron. “He’s certainly in line, he’s in step, with Donald Trump’s views on climate change, and Donald Trump has been on the record as a climate change denier for a long time and involved in this campaign.”
Because of that, a Trump/Vance administration would likely end the climate investments made through the Inflation Reduction Act under the Biden Harris Administration that benefited Ohioans, Dirrig said.
“Those projects aren’t going to happen. Those jobs aren’t going to be created and those families aren’t going to have, you know, lower job retention costs,” Dirrig said. “This is a real concern for voters and it’s a real concern for anyone who cares about the environment.”
The Inflation Reduction Act provided funding for a number of clean energy projects in Northeast Ohio, including a $17 million gas stove replacement program led by MetroHealth and a $156 million associate solar expansion program led by Growth Opportunity Partners.
“Vice President Harris championed and cast the deciding vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, and this … is the single largest investment ever in climate action, clean energy and environmental justice,” Dirrig said. “The reality is that Kamala Harris was a critical part of the progress, very significant progress, that we have already made on the climate crisis.
Additional support from a president concerned with climate change could bring continued progress and further address Ohio’s environmental issues, Dirrig said, such as clean water and lead safety.
“Kamala Harris has already made that investment and will make additional investments to ensure that children can depend on clean water coming out of their tap,” he said. “Donald Trump, on the other hand, has said that he doesn’t want to go. after the contamination, he doesn’t want to go after those who are polluting our drinking water and certainly wouldn’t have signed the main investment that has been done in our infrastructure to deal with the main service lines.”
Where they fall in fracking
Trump and Harris are somewhat tied on the issue of fracking, with neither candidate wanting to move away from fossil fuels entirely. Although during her 2019 campaign, Harris said she was in favor of a fracking ban.
But a change in Harris’ position shows an awareness of what the American people want, said Sunrise Oberlin Fellow Sydney Haddad.
“If [Harris] would be president, she would represent all 50 states,” she said. “Trying to make sure that she’s building the will of the people and trying to get people on board is very important because, again , it is a democracy. This is not a dictatorship”.
Nearly half of Ohioans say they either “strongly support” or “somewhat support” fracking as a means to increase the state’s national gas and oil production, according to the NEO Voter Voices poll commissioned by Ideastream Public Media, Signal Cleveland and WKYC.
Climate-conscious voters should be pragmatic when choosing candidates, Dirrig said, even if they don’t like the idea of burning more fossil fuels.
“Of course, we want to see continued action toward moving away from fossil fuels,” he said, “but that requires a lot of political support and a Congress that is willing to support more renewable energy development.”
Control of both houses of Congress will be taken on Election Day.