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May 10, 2019 - Energy & Environment

The state of the Green New Deal

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Data: Reproduced from a Yale Program on Climate Change Communication report; Chart: Axios Visuals
Data: Reproduced from a Yale Program on Climate Change Communication report; Chart: Axios Visuals

A pair of new polls underscore the Green New Deal's fast rise to political prominence and hint at how it could factor into the 2020 elections.

Why it matters: The separate surveys unveiled yesterday provide a fresh look at opinion ahead of a high-profile moment for the sweeping lefty climate and jobs plan.

  • On Monday Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will headline a Washington, D.C. rally organized by the youth-led Sunrise Movement.
  • Sunrise will "announce a nationwide campaign to make the 2020 election a referendum on the Green New Deal," an advisory states.

By the numbers: A Yale and George Mason University survey shows that political views of the Green New Deal have splintered along partisan lines as its name recognition has increased.

  • 58% of registered voters had heard either "a little" or "a lot" about the Green New Deal in their survey conducted last month, up from 17% in December.
  • Check out the chart above: GOP voters have turned sharply against the proposal while Democratic support remains robust.
  • The growing GOP opposition comes after months of attacks from Republican lawmakers and conservative movement figures.

The intrigue: "[S]upport for the Green New Deal is lower among Republicans who watch Fox News more frequently than it is among Republicans who watch it less often," the report notes.

  • The April survey showed support for the Green New Deal at just 22% among Republicans who watch Fox more than once per week, compared to 56% among those who watch the network once per week or less.

Now let's turn to a Monmouth University poll of Democratic New Hampshire primary voters released yesterday.

  • 28% of likely voters said it's "very important" that the Democratic Party nominate someone who supports the Green New Deal, while another 36% called it "somewhat" important.
  • More intrigue: Among voters who list it as "very important," 29% back Joe Biden (the clear frontrunner in the poll by a wide margin) and 27% back Bernie Sanders.
  • That's interesting because Sanders backs the Green New Deal while Biden has not weighed in as far as I can tell. Biden is also aggressively courting labor votes and the national AFL-CIO has not gotten behind the Green New Deal.

Go deeper: What Biden and Beto just told us about the 2020 climate fight

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