Guest essay by Eric Worrall
A post mortem national election survey conducted by the losers suggests that while their noisy climate policy initiatives swung a few votes, most voters put economic self interest and healthcare ahead of climate concerns.
Climate change concern helped Labor at 2019 election but Coalition won on economy – survey
ANU survey finds Labor loss due to erosion of working class base and Coalition’s perceived advantage on economy and tax
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Nevertheless the Australian election study – which used a nationally representative sample of 2,179 voters – found that narrow majorities approved of Labor’s individual tax policy measures to limit franking credit rebates and negative gearing.
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The study found that two-thirds of voters (66%) primarily decided their vote based on policy issues, compared with 19% who voted based on the parties as a whole, 8% on local candidates and 7% on the party leaders (7%).
The most important policy issues for voters were management of the economy (24%), health (22%), taxation (12%), the environment (11%) and global warming (10%). One in five respondents nominating environmental issues as their top concern is a record, up from fewer than 10% of voters in 2016.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/09/climate-change-concern-helped-labor-at-2019-election-but-coalition-won-on-economy-survey
This survey, a genuine moment of reflection from a party which bet everything on their climate policy initiatives, has implications for US politics.
So long as voters trust President Trump on the economy and healthcare, candidates who bet everything on their radical climate policy initiatives and who spook voters with their big economic ideas are on track to lose in 2020, regardless of how worried people say they are about climate change.
Global Warming isn’t so much a problem as an answer to a problem. Namely, how to make a group of supposedly highly-educated (yet clearly rather stupid and totally unelectable) people look both mainstream and necessary.
This is a Herculean task, yet one shouldered daily by climate pseudo-scientists, environmentalists, teachers, students, neo-feminists, pseudo-antiracists, communists, actors, popular musicians and others Hell-bent on placing themselves at the elite end of society where they clearly belong (according to their own deluded thoughts).
Not to mention journalists. They’re some of the worst.
Where was political leadership on the list?
Wow, that’s a biggie. Let me drive it home – any population that is forced to choose between a decent life and following some nutbags into a Climate Aöarmist economic fiasco will choose their own lives first. In Germany, a collective of more than 10000 concerned citizens has asked all political parties a series of questions that should show those parties that they will bleed if their concerns are not being taken seriously. When the first bunch of senior politicians loses badly in elections and this will at least in part be attributed to the Climate madness, watch the rest of the bunch flip faster than a ballerina on her toes. People are sick and tired.