Posted: 10/19/2004
Election 2004: The Missing Green Vote
Despite Environmentalist Efforts, Environment Not a Pressing Issue for Voters
October 19, 2004 – Despite an unprecedented united effort from the nation’s leading environmental activist groups, the environment will have no significant impact in this year’s election for the White House, according to analysts with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).
“While polls consistently show most people consider themselves environmentalists, they also consistently rank the environment lower than almost every other issue,” said NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett. “And because the environment is not a critical issue for swing voters, the candidates haven’t spent a lot of time discussing it.”
According to the NCPA, the leadership of dedicated environmental lobbying organizations are among the most partisan Democrat interest groups in the nation. As such, there is no incentive for either campaign to discuss the issue during the general campaign. While Senator Kerry risks turning off moderate swing voters by talking about environmental policies and regulations he would push if elected, President Bush risks losing more votes from his base than he could ever hope to gain by adopting policies preferred by the environmental left.
A Gallup Poll released this summer indicated that only 24 percent of voters thought the environment was an “extremely important” issue, tying it with energy for last of 15 issues. The NCPA also noted that in his “Plan for America,” Kerry lists the environment seventh—after national security, the economy and jobs, health care, energy independence, homeland security and education.
“The environment only becomes a critical issue when there is a particularly poignant and severe environmental crisis,” said Burnett. “Since environmental quality is, in general, improving and will likely continue to improve regardless of who is President, the environment is not a core issue for candidates outside of select state or local elections – most of which cut in the President’s favor.”