Joe Has Energy
New polling from Third Way's climate team shows how to broaden support for clean energy - and Biden
Third Way is out with new research showing just how important it is for Biden to lean into his economic and energy accomplishments with vigor.
The Biden Administration has a strong, broadly popular record on energy. And as a presidential candidate, Biden has been gaining momentum by showing some fight.
It is time for Biden to show some energy on, well, energy. Because no matter how much progressive activists clamor for the President to lean in on climate, voters aren’t prioritizing climate over the economy. Not even young voters (actually, as you’ll see, especially not young voters).
Emily Becker and Mary Sagatelova, from Third Way’s Climate & Energy Program, authored a memo based on fresh public opinion research covering the 2024 election, the economy, climate, and energy. The upshot:
Climate change isn’t a core concern for most voters in this election, and they don’t have faith in Democrats to deliver on their real concerns, which are mostly economic. These trends are particularly strong across three key groups Democrats need to secure the presidency in 2024: younger voters, voters without a college degree, and Latino voters.
Victory for Democrats in 2024 will mean reframing the conversation on clean energy to address voters’ economic concerns, not climate change.
The Young and The Zest-less
Media and professional activists on the left want there to be a climate uprising of youth voters. That would be great for Democrats and the planet.
But it is not true. Check out just how likely young voters prioritize the economy:
This should not be surprising. As we wrote in The Liberal Patriot last year, Young Voters are More Moderate Than You Think.
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These findings are based off on in-depth polling with Impact Research, a firm that, coincidentally, is also Joe Biden’s pollster.
Here’s more context, again from Third Way:
Clean energy is at the heart of the 2024 presidential election. It’s one of President Biden’s central achievements and is a central Republican attack on Democrats. The GOP has successfully positioned clean energy as another front in the culture wars, characterizing these technologies as luxuries for coastal elites. They’ve obscured the ways clean energy can improve the quality of life for working Americans, including by lowering household costs and improving air quality. And too many Democrats don’t realize these concerns are shared by key parts of the Democratic base.
In a new poll, we found that clean energy can be a winner for Democrats, but not if they focus on its climate benefits rather than the economic wins. And we found some genuinely surprising things about the age demographics among which that is most true.
We worked with Impact Research to conduct a quantitative national survey of 1,000 likely voters and with an oversample of 300 likely voters in battleground states to gauge the most effective ways to win support for clean energy across key constituencies.
Our results confirmed Trump’s current lead over Biden and revealed an electorate that is concerned about the economy, inflation, and the rising cost of living–far more than they’re concerned about climate change.
Biden's policies are popular, successful, and durable. They need to be understood by more voters, and for that Biden must talk more about them. And talk about them in a way that matters to voters who put costs over climate.
Joe should say the (popular) words about his all-of-the-above, record-breaking energy policy. And show some fight.
Luckily, what voters want dovetails with who the president is and what his administration has done. As Lauren wrote last week, the campaign should Let Biden Be Biden. The reality of voter perspective is just another reason why.