The Iowa Caucuses are done, so it’s on to New Hampshire next week where the remaining candidates for president face voters who have strong opinions about clean energy.
A January poll found more than 60% of likely voters in New Hampshire support new EPA standards that limit carbon pollution from power plants. Even self-identified Republican primary voters in the Granite State want presidential candidates who will maintain or strengthen federal environmental protections, according to a poll conducted last summer by GOP pollster American Viewpoint. They want to limit the use of coal and increase the use of clean energy sources such as wind and solar, and they’re not buying the false argument that switching to clean energy will cost American jobs, according to the poll.
Meanwhile leading GOP contender Donald Trump has said he’d gut the EPA. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the top vote-getter in Iowa, continues to bungle climate science in a sad attempt to deny the existence of global warming. And while Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) once acknowledged the challenges presented by climate change, he’s since decided to toe the GOP line and become a climate denier.
On the Democratic side, both Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have been vocal about the need for continued American leadership to address climate change and about the economic opportunities of a clean energy economy.
Now is the time for voters to hold all candidates accountable for their positions on an issue that’s vitally important to the future of New Hampshire, our country and the planet. Editors, reporters and moderators should ask about the contradictions between the Republican candidates’ positions and those of most New Hampshirites.