The University of Chicago’s recent GenForward Survey, which polled the political attitudes of more than 2,000 voters younger than 40, not surprisingly showed that most are concerned about the economy and inflation. What is surprising is that the environment as an issue didn’t rate high among those who will be most affected by human-caused climate change in coming decades. Notable is that in this category, the lowest rate of concern was among young Black voters, who are disproportionately affected by heat, flooding and other climate impacts.
One of the reasons for this lack of concern about climate among voters is how issues that are arguably less existentially important are being prioritized by candidates, parties and the media. For example, immigration wasn’t a top issue for voters until the 2016 election, when Donald Trump made it one. And abortion was not a top issue until the religious right took over the GOP in the late 20th century, making it the top “pro-life” issue, even though climate change has killed more worldwide than abortion.
More importantly, climate change should rightly not be a political issue, since it is a scientific fact that will impact the future of all humanity. The fact that the earth is round is not party-dependent, so neither should climate change. Unfortunately, climate change was made political thanks to decades of oil industry lobbying to conservative lawmakers and the spread of disinformation about its existence and connection to fossil fuel emissions. Meanwhile, millions of people have been impacted by climate-driven extreme weather and heat, drought and flooding, famine and disease. And millions more have been affected by climate-related costs for groceries, gasoline, home and health insurance, and taxes to fund emergency response and recovery.
Voters concerned about the economy, young or otherwise, would do well to finally make climate change a top political issue this year — and then elect leaders who take climate change seriously.