Harris Should Lean in as a Climate Champion and Strongly Contrast Her Platform Against Trump
By Danielle Deiseroth
Amid the hottest summer on record, the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) kicked off in Chicago this past week. As Democrats prepare for the election this fall, our message for them is clear: Vice President Kamala Harris can go big on climate and draw a strong contrast to Donald Trump.
New polling from Data for Progress finds that awareness of and concern around climate change among voters only continues to grow. A majority of likely voters are familiar with the topics of climate change (76%) and environmental justice (57%), reporting that they learn about these topics from the news (64% and 58%, respectively) and from witnessing or hearing, seeing, or reading about extreme weather events (53% and 38%).
These findings align with research from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, which finds that Americans have become more aware of and concerned about climate change over the past decade.
And voters are bringing their concern about the climate crisis to the ballot box. In 2020, both Biden voters and young voters reported that climate change was a key issue for them, and ahead of this year’s election, it appears the importance of climate, especially among these constituencies, has only grown.
About a third (32%) of voters — including half (52%) of Democrats — say climate change is more important to their vote choice in 2024 than it was in 2020. Pluralities of young voters (39%) and Latino voters (41%) also say that climate change is a more important factor to their vote choice this year.
The Biden-Harris administration has delivered game-changing victories on climate, including historic investments in sustainable infrastructure and green energy projects, which have created millions of new jobs in the process, many of which are union jobs. Not only are these accomplishments very popular, but a majority of voters, including Independents, say they are more likely to vote for a presidential candidate who backs these types of actions.
Vice President Harris can and should build a drum beat around her plans for climate. Voters like Harris’ approach on climate — especially if they’ve heard about it — and a majority (62%) want Harris to continue advancing ambitious climate action if elected, including 92% of Democrats, 55% of Independents, and 67% of young voters. Importantly, key Democratic constituencies, including young voters (57%), Black voters (75%), and Latino voters (61%), have particularly positive views of her climate plans.
It’s also crucial that we protect some of the Biden-Harris administration's most popular climate accomplishments, including strengthening the Clean Air and Water Acts (72%), holding big polluters accountable (69%), and passing the landmark Inflation Reduction Act (68%), from being outright repealed or undermined by Trump.
The good thing is, we know Harris’ record aligns more with voters’ views than Trump’s. In our polling with Climate Power, we find that a majority of voters (56%) align with Harris on going after big polluters, not with Trump’s plan to drill, drill, drill. Voters — and especially Democrats and young voters — don’t agree with Trump’s criticism of the Biden-Harris administration’s climate and energy policies, aligning more (51%) with Harris’ view that Trump is in bed with Big Oil.
In this election, there is only one candidate who will take such action: Kamala Harris.
As the 2024 election heats up, Harris has a tremendous opportunity to define herself as the climate candidate. She’s the candidate taking bold climate action to deliver lower costs for working families, not record profits for Big Oil CEOs and their shareholders. She’s the candidate for clean air and water, not unlimited oil drilling and polluting. She’s the candidate for ensuring a sustainable future for generations, not just the wealthy few.
With just 75 days to go until election day, Harris must make the choice clear: a vote for Harris-Walz is a vote not just for the people, but for a secure climate future.
Danielle Deiseroth (@danielledeis) is the Executive Director at Data for Progress.