Black Voters Are The "Eco-Voters" Climate Activists Are Looking For
Environmental advocacy movements - & candidates - are missing out on a key voting bloc
an ecoWURD feature
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With Black people clearly on the front lines of climate crisis and environmental disaster (as victims and forced resistance fighters), it would seem natural for Black voters in the 2020 election to view the environment as a top issue. Indeed, Black voters could in many ways be the decisive eco-voters of the most high stakes election in American history – particularly as we consider the current Trump administration’s zealous hostility to and aggressive dismantling of environmental protections.
This election will decide the fate of the planet and human civilization because the outcome will decide the direction of policy to fix the damage done to our collective home. Environmental issues, in fact, seem to permeate as key context throughout every major racial injustice highlighted this past summer: it was the diabolical gentrification plans of real estate companies that ended up murdering Breonna Taylor in Louisville, KY as police were being used to methodically push out low income Black residents for a redevelopment scheme. And there are redlining legacies in Minneapolis, MN and Kenosha, WI that eventually led to the death of George Floyd and the paralyzing of Jacob Blake. Behind every headlining viral act of open racism is an intersection of environmental injustice. Will Black voters be making those connections as they mail ballots or show up at polling places?
It’s not clear at the moment. A recent Economist/YouGov survey found 33 percent of Black voters (by far the highest of other groups polled) were not sure if “the world is becoming warmer as a result of human activity,” but a higher percentage (47 percent) believed that the severity of recent hurricanes and wildfire is the result of global climate change.
Yet, Black voters were also the most likely to say (75 percent) – out of all demographics – that climate change and the environment were either “very” or “somewhat important.”
Interestingly enough, an August 2019 poll from Quinnipiac found Black voters split on whether it was an emergency, with 44 percent saying it was not. But, in the recent YouGov poll, that issue ranked 5th among Black voters (at 8 percent) out of the ten most important issues, with healthcare at the top (35 percent).
With polling of Black potential or eligible voters notoriously incomplete (since political polling firms are overwhelmingly led by White men), it’s hard to determine the size of the Black eco-electorate: or rather, that portion of the Black voting community that is mobilized by environmental issues, including climate change and pollution. What we do know is that Black people, generally speaking (and based on the polling data we have to work with), have an enormous amount of situational awareness on these subjects. Of course, it bothers them: as a Yale Program on Climate Communication found “… Hispanics/Latinos (69 percent) and African Americans (57 percent) are more likely to be Alarmed or Concerned about global warming than are Whites (49 percent). In contrast, Whites are more likely to be Doubtful or Dismissive (27 percent) than are Hispanics/Latinos (11 percent) or African Americans (12 percent).”
The issue, however, is around mobilization. Is this a key issue prompting outrage and a related rush to the polls among Black voters? Are there large segments of the Black electorate moved by issues around the climate crisis, toxic air, and water or demanding dramatic policy changes such as clean energy infrastructure and the expansion of a “green economy” that creates jobs and Black startups? The recent Yale survey shows 36 percent of Black respondents willing to “join a campaign” to address climate change (versus 37 percent of Latinos and just 22 percent of Whites). When asked if these issues would significantly influence their decision in the 2020 election, 60 percent of Black voters surveyed ranked “environmental protection” as their 11th top issue out of 29 top issues listed and 53 percent ranked “global warming” as their 16th top issue – that’s impressive compared to just 44 percent and 35 percent of Whites, respectively, on the exact same issues.
“Research suggests that people of color may be more concerned than Whites about climate change because they are oftenmore exposed and vulnerable to environmental hazards and extreme weather events,” reported the study. “One particularly important example is that people of color are more likely than Whites to be exposed toair pollution. Inequitable exposure to environmental problems such as this may also explain, at least in part, why Hispanics/Latinos and African Americans report greater intentions to engage in climate activism.”
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