The Environmental Lobby and Voting Trends in the United States Essay

The Environmental Lobby and Voting Trends in the United States The environmental movement in the United States has typically focused its resources on public education, legislative lobbying and litigation. However, the movement’s success in the latter two is highly dependent on the quality and character of elected officials. Successful public education on behalf of the environment translates into greater environmentalist electoral success. This paper discusses national trends that impact and influence the environmental lobby’s ability to achieve favorable electoral results, and the manner in which the lobby has responded to those trends. Overall, the American public is receptive to environmentalism, but the political realm is crowded with many competing interests, and the environmental lobby has not yet found a reliable means of influencing electoral politics for the benefit of its policy preferences. Republican Voters The majority of all Republicans support some kind of federal environmental spending, either status quo or increased spending. The majority of all self-identified conservatives also support some kind of environmental spending. A visible gap in preferences regarding the amount of federal environmental spending exists between strongly and less strongly self-identified Republicans and this gap appears to have increased in the more polarized political world after 1994. Support for decreased environmental spending spikes significantly between strong Republicans and all other groups. The difference between weak Republicans and strong Republicans is about 10 percentage points. These differences between strong Republicans and all other groups including weak Republicans indicate that support for decreased en... ... Valtin, Tom. â€Å"After the Election: A More Visible Battlefield† Nov 6, 2002. Sieraclub.org/scoop/midterm_election.asp. Accessed 12/3/03 â€Å"A Big Fight for a Small Pocket of Voters in Colorado.† Nov 4, 2002. Online NewsHour. Pbs.org/newshour/vote2002/races/co. Accessed 12/3/03 Allard/Strickland Senate Debate. Oct. 4, 2002. rmpbs.org/campaign2002/debate_as.html#ads. Accessed 12/3/03 â€Å"Battle for the Senate.† Pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/july-dec02/Colorado. Accessed 12/3/03 â€Å"Colorado Up For Grabs.† PBS Online NewsHour. Oct 15,1996. Accessed 12/3/03. pbs.or/newshour/bb/election/October/96/Colorado_race_10-15.html Election 2002 and the Environment: Colorado Senate Race. Greennature.com/article780.html. Accessed 12/3/03 Lcveducation.org/Programs/ProgramsList.cfm?c=23. Accessed 12/2/03. http://www.multied.com/elections/1992state.html. Accessed 12/7/03.