For those who worry about climate change all the time, the results of the November election seemed to send a clear message: American voters just don’t care as much as you do.
But even though President-elect Donald Trump took the popular vote while pledging to roll back the country’s landmark climate legislation, the overall results present a more complicated message. Exit polls show more Americans than ever prioritized climate change. And in several battleground states that backed Trump, Democratic senators who ran on environmental platforms also won their races. Across the country — in blue and red states alike — environmental ballot measures prevailed. So what exactly happened to the climate vote?
“There’s no question that, at the presidential level, climate was not on the ballot,” said Pete Maysmith, senior vice president of campaigns at the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental nonprofit. “Voters are complex,” he said. “The economy really overrode a lot of other issues at play.”
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