A new poll has found that almost three-quarters of US Republican voters think the economy should be given priority in domestic policy, even at the risk of ignoring the climate crisis.
The survey, which was undertaken by NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist, found that a majority of Americans (53%) think addressing the climate crisis should be given priority.
However, 72% of Republicans said otherwise.
According to reports, June and July were, by many measures, the hottest such months on record. Wildfires are raging across the world, in the US notably in California and Nevada. Smoke from fires in Canada has blotted out the sun on the US east coast this year. Much of the US is threatened by rising seas.
While the UN has said that the world is “boiling”, the NPR poll showed that the percentage of Republicans who think the economy should be given priority regardless is up 13 points since 2018.
Read also: Thunberg accuses Edinburgh book festival sponsor of ‘greenwashing’
More than half of respondents (56%) said climate change was a major threat. More than two-thirds of Republicans (70%) said it was a minor threat or no threat at all. Among Republicans, 43% said climate change would have no serious impact on their communities.
The Biden administration has reportedly said that it will address the climate crisis but it has not been immune to criticism on the issue and with the House held by Republicans, legislative action is near-impossible.
Former US president, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, the clear top two in polling for the Republican nomination to face Joe Biden next year, have talked down the climate crisis threat. DeSantis has said he rejects “the politicization of the weather”.
Trump, who is the clear frontrunner, has called climate change a hoax. As president, he pulled the US out of the Paris climate accords. The US supreme court, dominated by justices installed by Republicans, has among recent hard-right rulings limited the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
On Thursday, Steve Guest, a conservative commentator and former aide to the Texas senator Ted Cruz, greeted the NPR poll and said: “Republicans are rejecting the climate cult’s antics.”
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
