Independent Polling Confirms: Climate Action Top Issue in 2020 Primary

Over the weekend, the Des Moines Register released new polling that shows climate change is a top tier issue for likely Iowa Democratic caucusgoers. This new polling confirms the findings of a poll released last month by LCV, CAP Action Fund and EDF Action which showed that addressing the climate crisis is a top tier issue for Democratic primary voters in 2020 in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and California, a distinction shared only by health care.

The results of the newly released Iowa polling that show 80% of caucusgoers want candidates to spend “a lot” of time talking about climate change, coupled with our finding that taking action on climate and moving to a clean energy economy was the most important issue for 46% of the Democratic primary electorate across early states reinforce that any candidate who is serious about defeating Donald Trump in 2020 must not only have an ambitious and urgent plan for climate action, but must make it a centerpiece of their campaign.

“This new polling demonstrates what we’ve already been seeing in the early states. The 2020 primary will be decided by an electorate that strongly wants to see bold action on climate at the absolute top of the agenda,” said Pete Maysmith, SVP for Campaigns at LCV. “That is why we are embarking on a campaign to ensure that the eventual nominee has ambitious plans to act on the climate crisis on day one as president – because it is clearly already a priority for the voters.”