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The Earth Is Sizzling, but Climate Isn't a Hot Topic for Democrats in This Year's Campaigns
Democratic strategists and candidates are shifting to affordability and Trump-focused messaging as 6 in 10 Democrats still call climate change a very big problem, Pew says.
On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary highlighted how climate change has been eclipsed by affordability and confronting Trump, as incumbent Ed Markey, 80, focuses on economic issues against challenger U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, 47.
The Searchlight Institute, a Democratic think tank, urged the party last year to stop mentioning climate change, contending voters view it as too intimidating and that focusing on other subjects enables Democrats to regain power.
About 6 in 10 Democrats say climate change is a very big problem, according to a Pew Research Center poll from April. Yet the issue consistently takes a back seat to inflation and healthcare affordability in voter priorities.
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island called ignoring the issue a "blunder," saying "climate change has moved from the science department into the economics department." Anthony Leiserowitz of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication warned inaction will shape planetary habitability for "thousands of years."
Advocates expect climate to return to center stage if Democrats retake the House in November and climate-sparked disasters dominate winter. Strategist Jared Leopold suggests re-framing climate through a "cost frame" to align with voter anxieties about affordability.