Poll: Young Republicans Break With Party on Climate Change

Young Republicans are breaking with the party over climate change, according to a new poll.

A survey from the Pew Research Center released Monday shows that more than half of adult Republicans under the age of 38 say the federal government should be doing more.

The finding suggests that the GOP could be forced to move further away from its traditional stance on climate change at a time when the globe has witnessed youth activists taking to the streets to lead protests over inaction on the topic.

And it's not just young people. Nearly half of Republican women – 46% – also want the federal government to do more.

Overall, about 67% of people say the federal government should do more to reduce the effects of climate change, according to the survey.

When the responses are broken down by party affiliation, about 90% of Democrats agree that the government isn't doing enough. Republicans, on the other hand, fall just short of 40% agreeing with the statement.

The survey, which was conducted on over 3,600 adults from Oct. 1 to Oct. 13, also found that 2 in 10 people believe human activity plays little or no role in climate change.

The findings come as the Trump administration continues to roll back environmental regulations to boost fossil fuel industries. This month, the White House announced it has officially started withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.

The generational differences may not be surprising, with increased attention being paid to the subject thanks to celebrities and sixteen-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who has been an influential figure in the movement.

"Young people are growing up in a time when climate change is here and has been very actively discussed during their lifetime," says Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale University's program on climate change communication. "It's the world they're going to live in, so they tend to be much more concerned about future-oriented potential impacts."

Possible reasons for the generational gap are increased media coverage of climate change in recent years and changing social norms, according to Leiserowitz, who was not involved in the Pew survey.

Women perceiving a higher risk than men is a trend that goes beyond just climate, Leiserowitz says. One factor at play could be the "white male effect," which is the tendency of white males to be less concerned about risks from a variety of events than women or minorities.

Sasha Mackler, director of the energy project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, says the poll shows an evolution in the climate views of Republicans and conservatives.

"I think that will motivate the party to start to do things we haven't seen them step into," says Mackler, who was not involved in the poll. "It's simply not sustainable for a conservative agenda to ignore climate policy."

While that likely won't translate to large, sweeping policy changes, he says it could mount to "small, meaningful steps."

One area where momentum could build is in clean energy innovation, Mackler says. That sentiment is reflected in the poll, which found that younger Republican generations and women also turn out their party's highest percentages when asked if they favor developing renewable energy sources over expanding fossil fuels.