Concern over the environment is one issue that a lot of young voters — whether they identify as Democrat or Republican — are increasingly having in common with one another. A new survey reveals a surge in young Republicans worried about man-made environmental issues, with 67 percent of Republicans 18-34 say they “worry about the damage humans cause the planet.”
A growing number of young Republican voters are concerned about the environment, particularly with how human behavior is damaging the planet, according to a recent report by Reuters, which cited results from a survey conducted by Glocalities, a polling agency based in Amsterdam.
The Glocalities survey — which canvassed views regarding environmental issues worldwide — shows that the number of U.S. Republicans who answered “agreed” or “strongly agreed” in response to the statement, “I worry about the damage humans cause the planet,” has gone up by 11 percentage points to 58 percent between 2014 and 2019 — just ahead of 2020 presidential election.
The report added that among those concerned over the environment, Republican voters between the ages of 18-34, in particular, had gone up by 18 percentage points to 67 percent, and that there had also been a 10 percentage point increase among all U.S. Republicans who admitted that they try to “live eco-consciously.”
Among Democrat voters, the results showed 83 percent are concerned over the environment, bringing it up nine percentage points. As for the United States overall, it was reported that 69 percent of the Americans surveyed agreed that humans are hurting the planet, which brings it up eight percentage points.
“When looking deeper into the data it becomes clear that the highest rise in environmental concern (worldwide) is visible among younger Republicans,” said Glocalities pollster Martijn Lampert, according to the Reuters report, which added that Lampert believes environmental issues will have an influence in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
“If Donald Trump keeps on denying climate change and refrains from standing up for the environment he won’t be able to increase support among the young and be heavily reliant on older generations of Republican voters for winning again,” added Lampert. “It will be very hard for him to broaden his base.”
Reuters also noted its own joint poll with Ipsos last December, which revealed that 69 percent of Americans agree that “the United States should work with other nations to curb climate change.”
Those results showed Republicans polled at 64 percent, with Democrats at 80 percent.
Toughness on China is one area in which people concerned about the environment can find common ground with the Trump administration, given that China is the biggest pollutant in the world, despite its communist government exploiting environmental apathy by lecturing the rest of the world for not doing enough to save the planet.
While many 2020 Democrat presidential primary candidates downplay China by suggesting that climate change is a larger threat to the United States than the communist regime, it’s important to remember that the two threats are largely one in the same, as China emits more carbon dioxide than any other country in the world, among other serious environmental offenses.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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