It looks like Al Gore and company have a long way to go when it comes to portraying climate change as being beyond partisanship (via Dayo Olopade):
The red line, showing Republicans' responses to the "We Can't Wait" ad by the Alliance for Climate Protection, takes a huge nosedive when the ad pivots from taking about World War II, civil rights, and the Apollo space program -- things all Americans view favorably -- and begins talking about taking action on climate change. It's unclear, as Dayo notes, whether this is conservative ideology or simple partisanship at work, but it's clear that any climate change policy, even a modest one like Lieberman-Warner, will only succeed over the fierce objections of the GOP. We should also keep in mind that moderate-conservative Democrats from industrial states may also be spooked from supporting taking action. It would be interesting to see the reactions to this ad broken down by region, then.
Why do you frame the issue that Gore has to woo Republicans on climate change? It's the independent line that jumps out at me -- much closer to agreement on climate action and more in step with Democrats. It illustrates how completely out of touch Republican leadership is on this issue, both from climate reality and from mainstream opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans' responses are important because it's the Republicans in Congress (the Senate in particular) that need persuading if a climate bill is going to get passed, either under this president or the next. It's good to see independents react favorably to taking action on climate change, but unless Republicans start feeling heat from their base on this issue, it's going to be very tough.
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