Invested In Climate

How environmentalists could decide the election, Ep #94

Sep 17, 2024

As the 2024 election approaches, a significant number of environmentalists remain non-voters, despite climate issues being their top priority. The Environmental Voter Project seeks to bridge this gap, aiming to mobilize just a small percentage to influence key outcomes. The discussion reveals the difference between voter preferences and actual voting behavior, the crucial role of local elections in shaping environmental policy, and innovative strategies to engage this demographic in the electoral process.

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Quick takeaways

Mobilizing the millions of non-voting environmentalists through the Environmental Voter Project could decisively influence election outcomes in pivotal states.

Understanding the gap between public sentiment on climate and actual voting priorities is crucial for encouraging political action and enhancing voter turnout among environmentalists.

Deep dives

The Impact of Non-Voting Environmentalists

There are millions of non-voting Americans who are deeply concerned about climate change but do not participate in elections, impacting policymaking. The Environmental Voter Project aims to mobilize this demographic, focusing on increasing the turnout of environmentalists who have marked climate as their top priority. In states where the project operates, roughly 4.8 million registered voters care about the environment but failed to vote in the last election. Engaging just a small percentage of these non-voters could significantly affect election outcomes, especially in pivotal states.

Intro

1min

Mobilizing Environmental Voters for Action

7min

Bridging the Gap: Environmental Voter Engagement

19min

Mobilizing Environmental Voters

8min

Young Voters' Preferences and Climate Action Insights

3min

Engaging Environmental Voters: Overcoming Misconceptions

7min

The Power of Collective Action in Volunteering

3min

We’re weeks away from a historic election. It’s one that will decide the course of climate action in the United States at a pivotal moment, a moment when we can’t afford to slow down or send mixed signals abroad. And, it’s an election that all expect to be decided by just tens of thousands of voters.

These are all facts that I’m sure you know already.

Here’s what you probably don’t know: millions of environmentalists don’t vote. These are people who list the environment and climate change as their number one most important issue – and getting just 1-2% of them to vote could easily decide the election.

This is the premise and work of the Environmental Voter Project. They’re a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, not focusing on a particular party, but instead focusing on protecting the environment simply by getting environmentalists to the polls. I learned a lot from my conversation with EVP Founder and Executive Director Nathaniel Stinnett. We talked about the difference between voter preferences and priorities, who these non-voting environmentalists are, and what actually works in getting them to vote. The answer to that riddle and much else in this episode might surprise you.

In today’s episode, we cover:

[03:18] What's at stake in the 2024 election?
[04:40] The implications for climate
[07:14] How local elections influence environmental policy
[08:56] Public sentiment on the environment
[11:13] The distinction between voter preference & voter prioritization
[13:28] The lack of voter turnout among environmentalists
[15:06] Why aren’t environmentalists voting
[20:21] Fossil fuel PR campaigns
[21:24] Environmental Voter Project & what they’re doing to engage
[23:55] The most resonant, persuasive, helpful message to motivate behavior change
[27:31] Measuring EVP’s impact
[30:00] What is EVP hoping to achieve this year
[32:49] The sensitivity analysis for EVP