There's an Electric Way for Democrats to Rebrand Climate Action

President-elect Donald Trump’s victory understandably looms large over the future of US climate policy. Equally important, however, is the flip side: Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat. How Democrats internalize this matters a great deal given they constitute the de facto party of climate action.

One starting point is that this wasn’t a climate election: It ranked last out of 10 issues for which Pew Research Center polled voters ahead of time. It was also the most divisive, with a 51-percentage-point red-blue gap. While a solid majority of Democratic voters cite climate change as very important, however, that has shrunk compared with 2020. Notably, Monmouth University polling earlier this year indicated a pronounced drop in concern about climate change among Democrats, identifying a shift in 2022. This coincides with the passage of President Joe Biden’s signature green legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, but also the post-pandemic jump in inflation, including peak pump prices. Little wonder that Harris, courting swing voters, downplayed climate change and warmed up to fracking.