Pollster: Climate change not a top issue for voters

Pollster Lee Miringoff said Thursday that climate change is not at the top of voters’ priority lists heading into the November midterm elections.

“Climate change is not a real intense issue for a lot of people,” Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.” 

“The fear is, of course, is that if people who don’t believe in it are wrong…trouble,” he said. 

Morning Consult senior polling reporter Cameron Easley agreed with Miringoff, noting that climate change didn’t appear to be among the top issues for voters.

“We’ve already missed a window to meaningfully slow this thing [climate change] down, but you know, you certainly don’t see reflected in voters’ concerns,” Easley said.

Climate change has dominated headlines during the Trump administration, due to the president’s decision to pull the U.S. from the Paris climate accord and the rollback of various Obama-era environmental regulations. 

A Yale University survey released earlier this year found that 38 percent of voters said a candidate’s position on climate change will be “very important” when they go to the polls for the midterm elections. 

Voters ranked climate change as the 15th most important issue in voting when asked about a total of 28 voting issues in the poll.

— Julia Manchester