🌍 Politicians in the United States have never been able to rely on climate concerns to turn out voters, or change their behavior at the ballot box.⠀ ⠀ But something started to change in recent elections.⠀ ⠀ In this year’s Iowa Democratic caucus, more than one-fifth of voters said climate was the most important factor when deciding which candidate to support, second only to healthcare. It’s the culmination of a trend. In 2016, just 2% of likely voters listed climate or the environment as their highest priority. In the 2018 midterms, 7% of exit poll voters did. Last year, it hit 12%.⠀ ⠀ “[This year] is undoubtedly the first presidential election where climate will be a top priority for a huge bloc of voters,” says Nathaniel Stinnett, the founder of the nonprofit Environmental Voter Project, a non-partisan group mobilizing voters. “Politicians ignore them at their peril.”⠀ ⠀ That opportunity—or liability—is already shaping Democratic campaigns. Washington governor Jay Inslee and billionaire Tom Steyer both ran on climate as their signature issue. Most candidates repeatedly mentioned climate change during debates, despite the fact that less than 10% of questions raised the issue. CNN even aired its own eight-hour town hall with candidates devoted exclusively to climate change.⠀ ⠀ This likely wasn’t far from mind when the presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden asked US senator Kamala Harris to be his vice president on Aug. 12. Few of the potential picks had a stronger record than Harris on this issue.⠀ ⠀ Harris, the former attorney general of California, made it clear during the campaign she would hold fossil fuel companies’ feet to the fire after making a career suing fossil fuel companies on grounds of environmental justice (as San Francisco’s district attorney, she set up the city’s first environmental justice unit). Harris has promised to push for passage of the Green New Deal under her $10 trillion climate plan, abolishing the Senate filibuster if necessary, and go after oil and gas firms fueling rising greenhouse gas emissions, at CNN’s climate town hall last September. She wants to eliminate net emissions in the US by 2045. — QUARTZ
