A new poll sponsored by the League of Conservation Voters finds that calling attention to a Congress member’s climate science denialism has “an important impact on the incumbents’ approval ratings and ratings on key personal dimensions.”
A polling memorandum by Hart Research Associates “presents the key findings from a series of surveys … to measure the impact of television advertising about the denial of climate change science by four incumbent Members of Congress.” The results show:
- The ads affect the way constituents view incumbents who deny climate science, not only with regard to this specific issue, but also in terms of the incumbents’ broader professional and personal standing among constituents.
- In all the test areas, the ads raise awareness of the degree to which the incumbent is out of step on the issue of climate change.
- In all but one of the test areas, the ads have an important impact on the incumbents’ approval ratings and ratings on key personal dimensions.
“Denying climate change science is something that, when you put it in front of voters, they stand up and take notice,” Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who did the survey for the LCV, told the Washington Post. “We’re finding that when voters hear about an elected official denying basic climate science, it is consequential in the way they think about that person, both in terms of the issue itself, and in terms of larger conclusions voters draw about whether that official thinks the way they do.”