Republican Voters Are More Pro-Climate Than You Might Think

It’s the big donors who are driving the party’s do-nothing policies.


The science behind climate change is indisputable. With more than 190 countries signing off on a historic climate deal, the case for action has never been more clear. And yet in the United States, one of the major political parties and most of its presidential candidates stand firmly against even market-friendly policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Why?

This question has vexed pundits, academics, and scientists for decades. New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait recently examined new research from the University of Bergen in Norway and provocatively asked, “Why Are Republicans the Only Climate-Science-Denying Party in the World?” One reason, he argues, is that “the virulence of anti-government ideology in the United States has no parallel anywhere in the world.” While this is certainly true, it can’t explain the fact that a recent survey and other data suggests that the majority of Republican voters accept the science behind global warming.

Here’s another possible explanation for the GOP’s intransigence in accepting and addressing climate change: the overwhelming influence of its donors, which stifles the preferences of the party’s majority.

Using the 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, a survey of more than 50,000 Americans funded by the National Science Foundation and designed by scholars from more than 40 universities, we compared the preferences of Republican voters, nonvoters, and donors who gave $1,000 or more political contributions in the previous year. (The nonvoters and voters were not donors.)

Survey respondents were asked which of the following five options was closest to their own opinion:

• Global climate change has been established as a serious problem, and immediate action is necessary.

• There is enough evidence that climate change is taking place and some action should be taken.

• We don’t know enough about global climate change, and more research is necessary before we take any actions.

• Concern about global climate change is exaggerated. No action is necessary.

• Global climate change is not occurring; this is not a real issue.

The data shows stark divides among Republicans, with nonvoting supporters of the party most likely to accept climate change and big donors most likely to deny the reality of climate change. Republican voters are essentially split into thirds between taking action, waiting, and rejecting the science behind climate change. More than 30 percent of voters and 47 percent of nonvoters believe the science is well enough established for action. Yet only 15 percent of donors support action. And almost half of donors are flat-out deniers, entirely rejecting the science of global warming.

On the Democratic side, the divide between donors and nondonors is much smaller: 77 percent of Democratic voters who are not donors and 94 percent of Democratic donors say they support action on global warming.

According to the 2014 CCES, which asked different questions on climate change, most Republican donors express little interest in taking action on global warming even when presented with specific policy proposals. Just 23 percent of all Republican donors think that the Environmental Protection Agency should regulate carbon dioxide emissions, compared to nearly half of Republican voters. Just 12 percent of donors support strengthening enforcement of the Clean Air Act, compared with 24 percent of the party rank-and-file. And while nearly 40 percent of Republican voters support requiring the use of renewable fuels, just one in four Republican donors support such a policy.

On the Democratic side, voters and donors have close views on these policies, though donors generally favor stronger environmental policies than the rank-and-file.

A survey of donors who gave more than $200 in 2012 performed by Michael Barber, a political scientist at Brigham Young University, further confirms the CCES data. He finds that only 26 percent of Republican donors support implementing requirements to lower the amount of greenhouse gases produced by American businesses. Fully 70 percent of Republican donors support repealing the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gasses.

Donors’ attitudes toward climate change also have implications for environmental justice. A recent AP investigation estimated that 90 percent of donations over $200 in 2012 came from majority white Census blocks. In a recent report from the think tank Demos (where Sean is a research associate), Adam Lioz noted that the power of the overwhelmingly white donor class frequently undermines steps towards racial justice. Climate change is no different. In the 2012 CCES, 55 percent of white donors of both parties said that global warming has been established and action should be taken, compared to 71 percent of non-white donors. And in the 2014 CCES, 58 percent of white donors supported EPA regulation of carbon emissions, compared to 71 percent of non-white donors.

There are numerous reasons why the United States has failed to take action on climate change, from collective-action problems to the difficulty of making immediate changes to stave off what may seem like a far-off catastrophe. However, it’s increasingly clear that money in politics is also a key impediment to action. This data suggests that progress on climate change has been thwarted by the Republican Party catering to a small and extreme donor base that is overwhelmingly opposed to facing reality.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate