Latino Voters Want a President Who Will Address Costs, Causes of Extreme Weather
By Grace Adcox
In 2024, the U.S. has already experienced 19 billion-dollar extreme weather events. With an intense hurricane season still predicted, no corner of the country is likely to be spared from the impacts of extreme weather and climate change. Latino voters, in particular, report facing the economic impacts of climate change in their daily lives and believe it will continue to affect their immediate future.
Data for Progress and Climate Power En Acción conducted a survey of 833 Latino voters from August 16-21, including a pooled oversample of respondents in the key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, to understand how this constituency is experiencing the impacts of extreme weather events, and to assess whom Latino voters trust to address climate change and extreme weather more broadly. Below are the key findings from this research:
Latino Voters Are Motivated to Elect a President Who Will Take Extreme Weather and Climate Change Seriously and Hold Big Oil Polluters Accountable
Latino voters prioritize addressing climate change and extreme weather, with 65% of respondents agreeing with a statement saying the U.S. needs a president committed to addressing both issues and making them a key priority of their policy agenda, including 53% of Latino voters in battleground states, 56% of Latino Independents, and two-thirds of Latino voters under age 45. In contrast, just 30% of respondents overall agree with a statement saying that we need a president who is committed to expanding oil and gas production and pushing back against a climate alarmist policy agenda.
Furthermore, 71% of Latino voters, including 64% of those in major swing states and nearly three-quarters (73%) of those under age 45, agree that the president should take action to make industries they view as most responsible for climate change and worsening extreme weather – the fossil fuel industry and big companies more generally – pay for damages they’ve caused to communities across the country.
Latino Voters Worry About the Impacts of Extreme Weather and the Financial Toll It Takes on Their Communities
Over three-quarters of Latino voters (78%) are at least somewhat concerned about themselves or someone in their family being affected by an extreme weather event, like a heat wave or flood. This includes majorities of Latino voters in key swing states (73%), as well as Latino voters who identify as Democrats (86%), Independents (71%), and Republicans (70%).
A majority of Latino voters surveyed also report that extreme weather events are impacting them now. Over three-quarters of Latino voters report that extreme weather events impact their energy bills (78%) and electricity bills (78%), highlighting that Latino voters think extreme weather causes similar levels of impact, regardless of which term is used.
In addition to a general increase in energy costs, Latino voters report home heating and cooling costs (77%) and their ability to enjoy the outdoors (74%) are also somewhat or greatly impacted by extreme weather. Notably, a majority of all Latino voters report that extreme weather either greatly or somewhat impacts all issues tested.
Latino voters have already faced additional costs due to extreme weather events in the last five years, with a strong majority reporting they’ve paid more for electricity bills (79%), food and grocery prices (78%), home heating and cooling costs (75%), gas prices (74%), and energy bills (71%).
Latino voters expect costly impacts from extreme weather events over the next five years. Strong majorities of Latino voters say they expect extreme weather events to lead to rising costs of home heating and cooling (89%), and rising energy (88%) and electricity bills (87%), in addition to rising costs of groceries and gas (both at 86%). Across the board, Latino voters believe that extreme weather events will lead to rising costs across many aspects of their lives, from the basic costs of maintaining their homes to health care costs driven by exposure to extreme weather, like respiratory problems driven by wildfire smoke or heatstroke induced by laboring under extreme conditions.
Latino Voters Blame Oil and Gas Companies and Big Companies Generally for Contributing to Climate Change and Increasingly Severe Extreme Weather
Two-thirds of Latino voters believe extreme weather events are increasing in frequency, and a strong majority of Latino voters (72%) think these extreme weather events are happening because of climate change, compared with 21% who say these events are unrelated to climate change.
Respondents who attributed extreme weather events to climate change were then asked which two groups they hold most responsible for contributing to climate change. Latino voters hold oil and gas companies (53%) mostresponsible, and this finding holds across nearly all demographic subgroups, including partisanship, age, gender, and education.
Latino Voters Trust Kamala Harris Over Donald Trump to Address Extreme Weather and Climate Change
Majorities of Latino voters say that they are more confident that Kamala Harris, and not Donald Trump, will address the climate crisis (+38-point margin over Trump), invest in clean energy manufacturing (+35), clean up air and water pollution (+33), protect communities against extreme weather events (+30), create jobs in the clean energy industry (+29), and lower energy costs for American families (+25), among other issues.
Respondents were also shown a list of concerns raised about Trump’s record and positions on the environment, including split-sample tests. From a list of statements shown to respondents, Latino voters are most concerned about Trump seeking out Big Oil donations for his campaign, given his record and proposed plans to offer billions in tax handouts, which will ultimately place the burden of increased pollution and worsening extreme weather on working families. Trump’s demonstrated willingness to put fossil fuel lobbyists in charge of essential clean air and water standards at the Environmental Protection Agency is also of particular concern to Latino voters when thinking about a potential second Trump administration.
Latino voters are also considering how a second Trump administration could impact their communities directly. A strong majority are concerned that Trump and the Project 2025 agenda would greatly limit the ability of the government to follow scientific climate research and respond to extreme weather events, especially by cutting support for the National Weather Service. With increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather, Latino voters also worry their communities will pay the price with their health as Trump continues to help Big Oil by keeping America dependent on polluting fossil fuels.
Conclusion
Latino voters express that they want a president who will take seriously the impacts of climate change and extreme weather — especially those related to costs. Moreover, Data for Progress also finds 41% of Latino voters say climate change is playing a more important factor in their vote in 2024, relative to the 2020 election.
The polling reflects Latino voters trust Harris to take action on extreme weather and listen to the concerns of middle- and working-class families who’ve already faced its cost and health impacts. Latino voters overall, as well as those in pivotal swing states, would like to have a president that will address costs related to climate change and extreme weather, hold the industries most responsible for those costs accountable, protect access to clean air and water, and deliver clean energy and good jobs.
Grace Adcox (@GraceAdcox) is the Senior Climate Strategist at Data for Progress.