Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is moving GOP voters closer to the environmentalist position on global warming, an uber-wealthy Democratic donor suggested Thursday.
“If you ask the easy question, if the government should accelerate the move to clean energy, Republicans would say yes in the mid-70s [percent range],” billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer said during an event it hosted in Washington by his super PAC, NextGen Climate.
“If you ask a tougher question, if it asks climate change, caused by humans, government should act on it,” Steyer added, “you get well over 50 percent” of Republican voters.
“So the fact is,” the former hedge fund manager concluded, “Republican voters have really moved.”
Steyer based his position on recent news showing Trump’s campaign is altering its position on global warming. The Republican nominee, according to campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, no longer believes climate change is a “hoax.” Instead, Trump thinks, “climate change is naturally occurring.”
Polls show Steyer is one only a handful of people who believe Republicans are shifting toward the belief that man-made global warming is a pressing issue.
A Gallup poll from March, for instance, shows that 31 percent of Republicans think environmental issues are important, which is the lowest level of concern since 2001. In fact, only 10 percent of Republicans worry a great deal about global warming as compared to 36 percent of Democrats, according to the Gallup data.
“Climate change and the quality of the environment rank near the bottom of a list of concerns for Americans, who are instead far more worried about more basic economic issues such as the economy, federal spending and the affordability of healthcare,” Gallup reported in March.
While Americans are becoming more concerned about climate change, other issues, such as the economy and national defense, represent the bulk of voter fears, despite Steyer’s insistence that global warming is becoming a primary concern.
Steyer is working hard to convince the media, the public, and everyone in between that environmental issues will change the trajectory of this year’s presidential election.
NextGen Climate, which gets nearly 100 percent of its funding from Steyer, announced that it will spend $6.5 million this election season to convince Pennsylvania millennials to vote on climate-related issues. Pennsylvania is considered a battleground state.
The group also pledged in April to shovel $25 million into a campaign to encourage young people to support and vote for green energy candidates in the November 2016 election.
NextGen justified its spending by pointing to a June, 2015, poll showing that 73 percent of young voters believe the U.S. should receive 50 percent of its energy from solar panels and windmills, among other renewable sources, by 2030.
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