The Green Electorate Votes Democrat and Republican

No matter which presidential candidate walks away today with a key to the oval office, I’ll be a happy man. It’s not at all that I don’t care who sits in the hot seat on Pennsylvania Avenue – rather I’m just happy that I don’t need to be worried about a military coup or massive riots whether Obama or McCain wins the election.

Beyond the rhetoric, the mud-slinging, the polls, and even the “issues” is the fact that this “American Experiment” of democracy is greater than any candidate running for office, or political party. Like Thomas M. DeFrank at nydailynews says

“After 931 days of campaigning, 109 primaries and caucuses, 47 debates and $5 billion spent, this marathon election nears its historic finish. Whatever Tuesday’s verdict, America will demolish political barriers that have stood through 55 quadrennial contests by choosing its first African-American President or its first female vice president.”

The previous 2 presidential elections (2000, 2004) also generated record levels of interest and voters from both sides of the political fence, much like today’s election. Following those elections, the country seemed to become very politically divided and the whole thing created a new breed of partisan-based patriotism. No matter who wins today, the next president will have the challenge of uniting the country and bringing opinions together to reach consensus. So when it comes to eco-policy, just how different are democrats & republicans?

In order to better understand what American adults are thinking, feeling and doing about global warming or climate change, George Mason University teamed up with research firm Porter Novelli in May and June 2007, and surveyed a nationally representative sample of approximately 12,000 adults. Later that same year in July and August, they also surveyed approximately 1,000 of their children, producing what they believe to be the first-ever American household survey (i.e., parent and child) on global warming. The margin of error for the adult data is +/- 1% and for the children’s data +/- 4%. I highly recommend giving it a little read, you can access the free report here.

In brief some of their findings –

1. A majority of American adults viewed climate change as a serious problem that threatens future generations and all life one earth, while only 14% believed it is not a problem.
2. American adults who believed that global warming is a dangerous threat also tended to express confidence that we are able to make the changes needed to combat its effects.
3. While Republicans and Democrats viewed climate change quite differently, they did not differ much in terms of their actual behavior. People on both ends of the political spectrum were engaged in about the same number of environmental actions.
4. Roughly 7 of 10 children felt personally threatened by global warming, but they also expressed considerable confidence that new technologies can solve the problem.

What’s the best news in this research? Read, “Republicans and Democrats…were engaged in about the same number of environmental actions” hear “We are equally concerned”. Though we seem to point fingers and call nasty names, when it comes to eco-issues – we share concern for the environment. Hopefully, even with the price of gas dropping and the economy in the tank, eco-issues won’t get put on the back burner and democrats and republicans can prompt action from their political leaders. The report continues –

“While Democrats were performing more of the environmental actions, on average they were only performing less than one more behavior than Republicans. The only environmental activities that Democrats were much more likely to engage in were voting for candidates based on their environmental records and donating to environmental organizations – actions that were fairly unusual in the population, even among Democrats. On other more common activities, such as conserving energy at home and recycling, the political groups were indistinguishable.” The report falls short of suggesting what this means but they conclude that “Thus, while there was a clear partisan divide with regard to beliefs about global warming, the environmental actions of people across the political spectrum were far more similar.”

So for some reason, although this research suggests that democrats and republicans have similar eco-friendly practices, we can’t seem to get the two together long enough to hammer out some solutions. Personally, I don’t think we’ll see eco-issues take a back seat because consumers actually want it, the technology is there, and alternative energies along with green ventures in general, are getting buckets full of VC funding.

BTW – If the elections are giving you a down day, or you’re just sick of the elections – watch this hilarious video Flight of the Conchords – \”The Issues\”