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Every Monday, in Climate on the Ballot, we pass along a topic to help you integrate climate into your newsroom’s campaign reporting. Share this newsletter with your colleagues on the politics beat. Vea la versión en español de “El clima en la boleta.”
This Week: ‘Astonishing’ Surge in Voter Registration
In the week after President Joe Biden announced that he was dropping out of the race in July, voter registration among several key demographics surged, reports CBS News. The number of young Black women registering to vote in “the 13 states that have updated voter files since July 21,” was up 175.8% compared with the same period in 2020, according to Tom Bonier, a senior advisor at TargetSmart, a firm that analyzes voter data. Bonier told MSNBC that the numbers were “astonishing.” Other groups with large increases include young Latinas (149.7%), Black women specifically (98.4%), Black Americans (85.8%), and young women (83.7%).
Young voters say they prioritize economic issues, such as cost of living, inflation, and jobs, followed by addressing climate change and protecting against gun violence, according to the most recent Tufts CIRCLE poll. The Circle Project estimates that 8 million youth are newly eligible to vote in 2024, for a total of 41 million eligible Gen Z voters. Nearly half (45%) are people of color, including 47% of newly eligible voters. “In regions with key swing states,” the report notes, “Asian, Black, and Latino youth make up a large share of newly eligible voters.”
Latino and Black communities in the US are disproportionately harmed by climate-related events, especially extreme heat. According to Yale Program on Climate Change Communication polling, Gen Z and Millennial women of color are the most climate anxious demographic in the US, with 68% reporting that they are “alarmed” or “concerned.” Additionally, majorities of Hispanic/Latino (64%) and Black adults (61%) in the US are either “alarmed” or “concerned” about global warming, compared with white adults (50%).
September 17 is National Voter Registration Day. Will these new voters bring new concerns and demands for climate action to the candidates? What is motivating them to register, will they turn out in November, and what role will climate play in determining who they vote for?
Reporting Ideas
- Dig into new voter registration numbers in your state or region. The Hill reports that in the 48 hours after Biden’s exit, nearly 40,000 new voters registered at Vote.org. Was the surge a blip or a trend? Talk to election board officials, groups registering voters, and candidates about what they’re seeing and hearing on the ground.
- Interview Gen Z voters about their top issues, their views of candidates, and whether they plan to vote. Young voters are notoriously difficult for pollsters to reach because they typically don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. Journalists can fill in the gaps in coverage of this huge and diverse voting bloc. The Tufts CIRCLE Youth Electoral Significance Index ranks the states and districts where young voters may influence the outcomes of the Presidential, Senate and House races in November.
- Visit college campuses and talk to students registering to vote. Voter registration drives around the country, including on college campuses, are ramping up before deadlines (which vary by state). In 2020, 66% of registered college students voted — a 14% increase from 2016. What issues are motivating college students to vote in November?
- Talk to youth climate and environmental justice groups about their get-out-the-vote initiatives. The Sunrise Movement is planning to contact 1.5 million young people to encourage them to vote for Harris, but the group has stopped short of endorsing her until the vice president releases a detailed climate platform. What are local Sunrise Movement chapters in your state planning? What do members say about the election?
- Report on political advertising and outreach to specific groups of voters. Axios highlights the six groups that the Harris and Trump campaigns are targeting with traditional and non-traditional approaches. Some advocates think Democrats could do a better job of getting their environmental message to Black climate voters. Last month, Climate Power, a strategic communications organization, announced a $10 million engagement program aimed at mobilizing Black voters around climate. How are all these efforts landing with voters?
Take Inspiration
There hasn’t been much reporting yet on young people’s motivations for registering to vote. Digging into those as they relate to climate is important context for audiences. These select articles showcase younger voters talking about other issues they say are important to them.
- NPR’s Elena Moore talks with first-generation American Gen Z voters in Houston about how their experiences growing up in the US immigration system has shaped their voting decisions.
- The New York Times’s Patrick Healy has been following a group of young undecided Gen Z voters through the election. In this episode, they talk about the emergence of Harris as the candidate and the issues that matter to them most, namely the economy, inflation, and the Middle East, as they consider their choices in November.
- Denver’s 9News talked with young voters about the issues driving their support for Harris and Trump at the DNC and RNC conventions, including climate change, abortion rights, and the economy.
- MSNBC interviewed Representative Maxwell Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress, about what he’s been hearing from students and young voters as part of the Harris-Walz campaign blitz on 150 college campuses in battleground states.
Spotlight Piece
Inside Climate News reports that new polling in five swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania — by the Environmental Voter Project and Beacon Research finds that Harris’s favorability rating is “sky high among young voters in battleground states.” The poll also found that 40% of respondents “said that climate change has become a ‘deal breaker’ issue” for them.
Before We Go…
Climate on the Ballot Summit. From September 17–19, join CCNow and top political and climate journalists for a virtual summit, in which we’ll dig into the challenges and opportunities of elevating the climate angle in journalists’ political storytelling during this unprecedented election year. Learn more and register here.
CCNow Sharing Library. CCNow news outlet partners are welcome to publish stories shared in the CCNow Sharing Library by fellow partners, for free. Check out our curated “Elections Coverage” view. Interested in CCNow partnership? Learn more and apply to join.
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