Climate Change Becomes Key Issue in Wooing Latino Voters

Electorate groups have waged war against each other to woo Latinos toward their side of the debate over the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s controversial Clean Power Plan initiative, which is designed to cut emissions from power plants — one of the primary sources of carbon pollution — by 30 percent by 2030.

Environmental, religious and Democratic-leaning political advocacy organizations have stressed the health implications of the enacting the initiative in law through Congress. For example, the groups cite statistics that show Hispanics are 60 percent more likely to visit the hospital for asthma, as compared to non-Hispanic whites, and Hispanic children are 40 percent more likely to die from asthma. What’s more, communities of color are more likely to be located in counties with high pollution levels and often have less access to quality health care.

Opponents of the Clean Power Plan, including Republicans in Congress and many business groups, say it will lead to lost jobs, lower incomes and higher poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics. With blacks and Hispanics spending a larger share of their income on energy than whites, opponents say the burden of higher costs will fall hardest on minorities.

The courting of Latinos behind either side of the Clean Power Plan debate is of high importance to the 2016 elections, as recent polls show that environmental issues are of increasing significance to Latino voters. A poll conducted by The New York Times, Stanford University and Resources for the Future found that a majority of Hispanic-Americans rate global warming as “extremely” or “very” important to them personally, and think the U.S. government should do “a great deal” or “a lot” to address the issue.

According to the poll, among Hispanic respondents, 54 percent rated global warming as “extremely” or “very important” to them personally, compared with 37 percent of whites. Sixty-seven percent of Hispanics said they would be hurt personally to a significant degree if nothing was done to reduce global warming, compared with half of whites. And 63 percent of Hispanics said the federal government should act broadly to address global warming, compared with 49 percent of whites.

“With Latinos making up an increasing share of the electorate, we need our voices and our concerns about climate change to be reflected at every level of government, from state capitols to the halls of Congress,” said Cristóbal Joshua, of the new political advocacy organization the Latino Victory Project, in a recent commentary in the Huffington Post. “We need to tell our leaders to make the right call by supporting the Clean Power Plan now and keeping our communities, as well as our children and grandchildren, safe from the harmful impacts climate change.’

Latinos Expand Their Political Priorities

The heightened emphasis on environmental issues represents an ideological shift from conventional wisdom — that Latinos were primarily, or only interested in immigration, as immigration reform with a path toward citizenship has been a high priority in recent elections.

Leading the shift in interest in climate changes issues are Americans of Latino descent, who are more concerned about the quality of our air, water, and the alarming effects of climate change already impacting our country, than the average American.

The enhanced prioritization of climate issues not only has implications for the upcoming 2016 elections, but possibly elections in decades to come, as it is estimated that some 50,000 American Latinos celebrate their 18th birthday every month.

If either party were able to activate young Latino voters around climate change it could transform the national conversation on global warming in addition to election outcomes.