Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

5. Global Warming as a Voting Issue

5.1. Most liberal Democrats say global warming will be a very important issue when deciding for whom to vote in the 2018 Congressional election.

Compared to most other issues discussed by Congressional candidates, global warming is one that fewer than four in ten registered voters (38%) say will be very important to their vote (see Tables, pp. 48-57). Liberal Democrats are the clear exception — about seven in ten (69%) say global warming will be a very important issue determining their vote in 2018.

Among the issues voters say will influence their vote for Congress in 2018, global warming ranked 15^th in importance of the 28 issues asked about. However, it was the fourth most important issue to liberal Democrats (and the ninth most important for all Democrats, see Data Tables). By contrast, global warming was the 14^th most important voting priority for Independents, and near or at the bottom of Congressional voting priorities for Republicans.

When asked to identify their most important issue when voting for a congressional candidate, 2% of registered voters say it is global warming (see Data Tables). This includes 3% of Democrats, 1% of Independents, and 1% of Republicans.