Updates

This election cycle, the climate crisis is on Americans’ minds. In an October poll from the New York Times and Siena College, 58% of people surveyed said they were “very concerned” or at least “somewhat concerned” about climate change, and potential voters in swing states expressed worry about its effects in their communities.

As Election Day nears, a majority of registered voters in the United States say climate change will be an important issue in making their choice for president. That’s according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted over the summer. It’s a sharp contrast to the 2016 race, when only 2% of likely voters listed climate or the environment as their top priority.

According to data from the nonpartisan Environmental Voter Project provided exclusively to Grist, 20 percent of early ballots cast in key battleground states like Arizona and North Carolina come from eco-conscious voters, those identified as likely to choose climate or the environment as a top priority.

In this episode of Political Climate, we examine whether environmental issues are mobilizing voters the way that analysts anticipated. Who are those voters, and do they wield significant influence?

Nathaniel Stinnett is a political advisor & Executive Director of the Environmental Voter Project. We discuss how the organization started, the stats on environmentalists who don't vote, how modern political campaigns work, how you can sign up to volunteer, why this election is so important for climate change, why it's crucial to be a voter regardless who you vote for & more.

The jury is in: Most Americans agree that climate change is a problem and would like to see the government do more to reduce carbon and protect our air and water. So, you might ask, why isn’t the government doing more to reduce carbon and protect our air and water?

As the climate crisis continues to climb as a top concern for likely voters in the U.S., the Cooler Earth Podcast sat down with Sara Singh of the Sunrise Movement, and Nathaniel Stinnett of the Environmental Voter Project to understand the growing impact of climate and environmental justice in electoral politics.

The era of the climate voter has arrived. This may be news to people who haven’t tuned into politics since 2016, but these are the facts: climate change is now a top-3 voter priority, climate voters are turning out in unprecedented numbers, and battle-ground state voters of all stripes are deeply concerned about the climate crisis.

The Environmental Voter Project's Executive Director, Nathaniel Stinnett, joins Jared Blumenfeld's award-winning Podship Earth to discuss the environmental movement's enormous latent political power, and why we need to start voting like our lives depend on it.

Environmentalists are known for their passion. Millions have marched, thousands skipped school in protest and organizations like Sunrise Movement are pushing policy on the US Presidential candidates - but are they actually voting?