Pennsylvania

While partisanship remains strong among the rural electorate, more than one-third (37%) of rural voters appear "swingable" in future elections, depending on resonant policy proposals and messaging. Three messaging points — lowering prices; bringing good-paying jobs to local communities; and a populist message focused on corporate greed — received such broad support that they rivaled voters’ agreement on core values like family and freedom. Read additional analysis in the Daily Yonder's coverage.

Amid Farm Bill negotiations, voters in key states are more likely to support political candidates who want to help farmers to adapt to extreme weather and to be part of the solution to climate change. Voters in the four states are highly motivated in their support for programs that would help farmers adapt to extreme weather and mitigate climate change. Majorities in Colorado (69%), Georgia (66%), Michigan (65%) and Pennsylvania (70%) said they would be more likely to support a candidate for office who offered ideas along those lines. Large majorities in each of the four states, upwards of 76% of voters, identified corporate consolidation that squeezes small and midsize farmers and food businesses as a threat in their state. Notably, that jumped to 89% of households with a farmer. Majorities in every state, with a high of 89% in Pennsylvania, supported increasing investments that help small and midsize farmers compete with large corporate agribusiness. Very large majorities of voters supported programs that help farmers protect water quality and keep more carbon and nutrients in their soil, from 86% in Georgia to a high of 88% in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Majorities of voters in each state – as many as 68% in Michigan – and 66% of voters with a farmer in the house said water pollution caused by agricultural runoff is a threat to their state.

Just five policies across the economy can dramatically cut state greenhouse gas emissions. These include clean electricity standards; zero-emission vehicle standards; clean building equipment standards; industrial efficiency and emissions standards; and standards for methane detection, capture, and destruction. This report evaluates emissions trajectories and policy impacts for six states: Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These states have widely varying emissions profiles. For example, Louisiana’s emissions are dominated by the industrial sector, while in Michigan, the building sector is a significant contributor. In New Mexico, home to significant oil and gas extraction, methane is a major source of GHG emissions.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on voters’ reactions to arguments from the two parties on climate change; the impact of climate change and the environment on battleground voters’ decisions in the upcoming midterms; an experiment in communicating about human-caused climate change using a “heat-trapping blanket” metaphor; Americans’ personal experiences with climate change; and the widening generational gap in Republicans’ environmental attitudes.

A record-high percentage of Pennsylvanians (75%) say there is “solid evidence” of global warming; Pennsylvanians are divided on fracking and the long-term impacts of gas drilling in the state. 77% of Pennsylvanians view global warming as a “serious problem” (including 53% who rate it as “very serious”) further demonstrates a clear statewide consensus around the reality and risks of climate change. The poll also finds that Pennsylvanians are feeling cross-pressured on the issue of fracked gas, as large majorities believe both that gas drilling is important to the state’s economy (86%) and that it poses a major risk to the state’s water resources (67%). Pennsylvanians are divided on fracking in general, as 48% support and 44% oppose the extraction of gas from shale deposits in the state. State residents have similarly mixed attitudes as to whether gas drilling will provide more benefits (44%) or more problems (40%) for Pennsylvania in the future. When asked an open-ended question about the primary risks of fracking in Pennsylvania, meanwhile, residents are most likely to name water contamination (26%) and general environmental damage (14%).

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling about West Virginia vs. EPA and the EPA’s authority, a survey of climate attitudes among Facebook users across 192 countries and territories, and new state-level polling in Pennsylvania about climate change and the state’s fracking industry.

Help people envision more just and sustainable systems. This article looks at efforts in southwest Pennsylvania to oppose plans for gas and plastics expansion in the region. Activists share their strategies, including raising public awareness about the dangers of fracking and plastic, tracking emissions themselves, and advocating for investments in more sustainable industries.