Black voters' climate concern is high in most of Mountain West - Wyoming Public Media
Black voters’ climate concern is high in most of Mountain West | Wyoming Public Media
Black voters’ climate concern is high in most of Mountain West
A new report shows Black voters nationwide are very concerned about climate change and more likely to take political action on the issue.
Nationwide, nearly 90% of Black voters are concerned about climate change to some degree. That’s about 10% higher than the national average, according to a report by Brookings, a nonprofit think tank.
And Black voters are more concerned about climate change than the state average in many areas of the U.S. – including parts of the Mountain West.
In our region, Black voters’ climate concern is slightly higher than the state average in Utah (+4.3%), New Mexico (+3%), Wyoming (+0.6%) and Idaho (+0.3%). Meanwhile, Black voters’ concern is slightly lower in Nevada (-1%) and Colorado (-0.07%).
Several factors are likely driving the broad trend of climate concern among Black voters, said Manann Donoghoe, senior research associate at Brookings.
“Climate change is just a less polarizing issue for black voters,” Donoghoe said. “And one hypothesis to that may be that black voters, as a group, tend to be more exposed to the impacts of climate change.”
He added that Black voters are also more likely to take climate-related political action, such as signing a petition, attending a rally, or voting for a candidate because of their climate policies. In 2023, about 56% of Black voters took at least one action, according to Brookings. The national average was 43%.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”