A woman stands among the wreckage of a house that was abruptly destroyed by a landslide as a … [+]
Where candidates stand on climate change is a key issue in this year’s historic elections, from the presidency on down the ballot, especially for women voters, according to a new study by George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication and the Yale Program for Climate Change Communication. It found that 64% of registered women voters prefer candidates that support action on global warming, and that 58% of men do as well. It also found that 40% of registered women voters say a candidate’s position on global warming will be “‘very important’’ in their choice for president.
Prioritizing climate change in their vote aligns with the study’s finding that 83% of women registered voters believe climate change is happening now. Since women vote in higher numbers than men these days, according to Celinda Lake, President of renowned 30-year old market research firm Lake Research Partners, that could tip the election.
“Women now register and turn out in higher numbers than their male counterparts,” Lake said in a recent in-depth interview on Electric Ladies Podcast. Women voters are a powerful force, she said, describing the woman voter as, “She is 53% of the electorate, 59% of Democratic primaries, and really the fortunes of the president, she will decide the presidency.”
A woman casts her ballot for the 2020 presidential election at an early voting location on October … [+]
Women are the key to swing states too, Lake added, but cautioned that, “She’s not monolithic though. She can be a 40-year-old woman, she can be a young college educated woman. She can be a single mom, a woman of color, she can be a grandmother. So, understanding all the different kinds of women out there is very important.”
Strong “support for building clean energy infrastructure locally”
The GMU/Yale study also found strong “support for building clean energy infrastructure locally,” adding that, “Majorities of registered voters support climate-friendly energy production and distribution infrastructure in their local area, including solar farms (65%), wind farms (58%), high-voltage power lines to distribute clean energy (54%), and electric vehicle charging stations (51%).” This bodes well for candidates whose positions align with these policies, such as President Biden and his landmark Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment Act.
Screenshot – GMU study – Majority of voters want climate infrastructure locally – June 2024,
The GMU/Yale study found this support crosses party lines too, that “many liberal/moderate Republicans,” support it, as well as majorities of Democrats. That aligns with another one of the study’s findings: that 69% of moderate Republicans believe global warming is happening now, and 70% of moderate Republicans support more funding of renewable energy research.
What motivates women to vote on climate change?
“Women are very worried about these (extreme weather) events, and they’re the ones that really worry about the impact on communities. They worry that whether you’re talking about a Kentucky or a Maui, these communities have not recovered,” Lake explained. How the president in office manages these issues matters to women voters too, she added.
Unique to this election year, we literally know how both presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees handle these crises and can vote accordingly. Lake explained that women voters, “They are incensed. They remember the vivid imagery of Donald Trump throwing paper towels at people from Puerto Rico who were out of their homes,” after Puerto Rico was decimated by Hurricane Maria. In contrast, “They like the compassionate president. They like someone who’s in tune.” Biden’s empathetic all-of-government, resource-deploying approach to these disasters seems more “in tune” with what Lake describes women seek in a president.
Students participate in the Global Climate Strike march on September 20, 2019 in New York City. … [+]
What motivates these women voters in addition to how their own communities fare is their kids. “They want to leave a better country for their children,” Lake said, adding, “Women have been very influenced by their children and their grandchildren. They will say that climate change is something that really is on my agenda more because my children talk to me about it and they listen to their children and grandchildren.”
Who explains global warming and climate issues – and how – matters
Screenshot – GMU study – women more climate-focused than men – June 2024
The GMU/Yale study also found that only 28% of 18–34-year-old women hear about climate change in the media, and only 20% of 18–34-year-old men, and the highest percentage of women hearing about it in the media is 55% of women 55+ years old (versus only 38% of men 55+). So the media has a lot more work to do on this issue — and an opportunity. How?
Celinda Lake emphasized that how global warming and climate change are communicated is key, that women respond to the word “climate,” and that “they’re very worried about pollution, destruction of communities.”
Rick Knabb live interview with The Weather Channel -NOAA, https://www.noaa.gov/
“The language that resonates the most,” with women voters, Lake explained, “is language that talks about the way that people live things in real lived experience. So, not degrees of temperature or, you know, statistics or acronyms. And that’s true for the economy too.”
“It’s extreme weather damage to the climate, health issues that are more serious. So, the way this impacts everyday people’s real lived experience,” she suggested. Interestingly, weather people have the most credibility with women voters, Lake noticed in their research, “They’re very deferential to people who report on the weather, believe it or not, weather men and weather women have a huge impact, and they’re perceived to be impartial. They’re not perceived to be a political force.”
“Women are also very responsive to public servants,” according to Lake. “First responders who say, ‘I’m seeing this,’ more healthcare providers who say, ‘I’m seeing this more,’ nurses, that kind of thing. Really. The people that translate (climate change) into the cost for human beings, the people that are impartial, public servants, the people who have firsthand, on the ground experience.”
Climate is a key issue in this November’s election – especially for women voters – so we’ll see how candidates respond and how it’s reflected in the actual votes.
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