Morning Consult senior polling reporter Cameron Easley on Thursday said that polling suggests that Republicans impacted by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, are more likely to believe in man-made climate change, noting, in particular, those affected by Hurricane Harvey last year.
“We specifically found an uptick in belief in man-made climate shift coming from Republicans specifically in the areas that were damaged by Hurricane Harvey,” Easley told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”
“The problem with the climate change issue is that it’s not something that you’re immediately feeling. It’s not something that you’re recognizing on an everyday basis until there’s a catastrophic event,” he said.
Easley was referring to a Morning Consult survey conducted last September, which found that Republican voters living in Florida, Louisiana and Texas tended to be more worried about climate change after hurricanes hammered their states.
Fifty-seven percent of Republican voters said they were concerned about climate change, which was up 7 points from the previous April.
— Julia Manchester
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