In the eve of the 2018 midterm elections, we asked Latino voters (n=2,600) in the key states of Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, and Texas and in 70 competitive battleground house district races about their environmental preferences. While much of the attention has been on President Trump’s divisive rhetoric towards immigrants, like all voters in the electorate, Latina/o voters are paying attention to a wide variety of kitchen table issues, especially the environment. Recent polling data conducted by Latino Decisions, we find that over 78 percent of Latinos have personally experienced the effects of climate change in their state. Most dramatic is that over 65 percent have personally experienced extreme weather patterns such as deadly heat waves, frequent and intense storms and flooding within the past five years. Not surprising, respondents from both Florida and Texas were most likely to have personally experienced climate change. This finding is not surprising given the recent environmental catastrophes in these two states.
Latino voters also say that it is very important that Congress take steps to pass legislation to aggressively combat climate change and find ways to reduce smog and air pollution, including investing in clean energy. Our poll also finds that over 81 percent of Latinos in key states and battleground races say it is “very” and “extremely important” that Congress to take an aggressive stance on global warming or climate change. This is an increase of 10 percentage points, when we asked this question in 2016. In particular, Latina/o voters in Texas and California were most likely to say that it is “very” and “extremely important,” to take an aggressive stance on global warming or climate change.
When stratifying the sample on key demographics we find overwhelming support among Latina voters. We also find strong congruence by both Democrats and Republicans. For example, over 61 percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democrats said it is “very” and “extremely important,” to take an aggressive stance on global warming or climate change.
When we asked about air pollution, we find overwhelming support on the view that the new Congress should take steps to reduce smog and air pollution. Once again, when we compare this item from 2016 to 2018, we find an increase of 17 percentage points on the view that is it “extremely important” that Congress take steps to reduce smog and air pollution. We also find the strong support among both Republicans (71 percent) and Democrats (89 percent) who state it is “very” and “extremely important” that Congress take steps to reduce smog and air pollution.
For nearly all Latino voters across these key states and competitive house districts, there is a strong belief that Congress should play a role in addressing global warming, reduce air pollution, and focus on clean energy. Further, Latinos are strong supporters of investing in clean energy. By any measure, polling data from Latino Decisions clearly finds Latino voters are strong supporters of protecting the environment given their personal experiences with climate change and global warming.
Methodology: National sample N=2,600 (MoE +/-1.9%), 5 state samples (AZ, CA, FL, NV, TX). Completed interviews by landline, cell and on-line with Latino registered voters in English and Spanish at respondent’s discretion; from November 1-5, 2018. Respondents are extreme-high-propensity voters screened on vote history, or newly registered, and queried self-report of intention to vote (or having voted). Randomly drawn from representative statewide sample, and then weighted to match census demographics.
