What Went Down In The 2018 Midterms

My gut was that it wouldn’t be a major factor in how people vote, Chad. And, looking at the data on this now, I’m kind of right. But also kind of not.

For instance, Pew found that 63 percent of all registered voters say the environment is very important to their vote this year. But that also puts it 10th on a list of the issues that mattered most.

Well, Chad, climate change in particular has become a partisan issue. Research by Dan Kahan’s cultural cognition project at Yale Law School shows that, “What people ‘believe’ about global warming doesn’t reflect what they know; it expresses who they are.” So If you’re a Democrat, climate change might be an issue that influences your vote, but it might be less important if you’re a republican.

Since we have two of our science experts here, I am curious: We heard in the last two months that global warming is coming for us all, whether we like it or not. (Though it’s coming for some of us more than others.) Is there any evidence that voters vote based on the environment?