Kerby Anderson

Now that we have had a few Democrat presidential debates, we know what a majority of candidates believe is their number one issue. That would be climate change. Some candidates say it will be the first issue they will tackle their first day in office. Others might put it in the top two or three.

It’s not hard to see why they put it so high on the agenda. A huge majority of primary voters say it is important to them. For example, one CNN poll found that 96 percent of Democrats say it’s important that these candidates support “taking aggressive action to slow the effect of climate change.” No doubt most of the candidates believe climate change is a problem, but they make it the highest priority when such an overwhelming percentage want action.

These candidates may discover that this could end up being a climate politics trap. Here’s the problem. Polls do show that Americans (especially Democrats) are worried about climate change. But other polls remind us that those same American aren’t ready to pay any significant amount for it.

Rich Lowry talked about the climate trap merely by reminding his readers of another poll by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago. They asked how much Americans were willing to pay to fight climate change. A majority (57%) said at least one dollar a month.

When we talked about this on my radio program, one of the guests reminded us of the reaction in France to the hikes in gas and diesel in order to reduce carbon emissions. That sparked the yellow-vest protests that reversed the policy.

Any significant attempt to deal with climate change will be costly to Americans immediately and result in little or no benefit in the far distant future. That’s a tough sell and why some candidates may fall into a climate politics trap.