Prof. Aseem Prakash and Prof. Nives Dolšak write in Forbes, "Generating Public Support For State Climate Policy During Trump 2.0".
The incoming Trump administration seeks to roll back federal climate initiatives such as the Inflation Reduction Act...Strong public support for state-level climate action will be forthcoming if voters see these policies creating local benefits that address their everyday problems.
During the recent elections, Let’s Go Washington, an advocacy group led by Brian Heyworth, succeeded in placing Initiative 2117 on the ballot to repeal the CCA and end carbon pricing....
In a surprising turn of events, Washington voters supported carbon pricing (by rejecting I-2117) by a 62-38% margin. This was a complete reversal of 2018 when Washington voters rejected carbon pricing (I-1631) by a 56-43% margin.
What happened? While in 2018, carbon pricing supporters focused on future benefits from carbon tax revenues, in 2024, they talked about existing local benefits from the “cap-and-invest” revenues such as investments in transportation...the recognition of existing local benefits from the “cap-and-invest” revenues probably increased the support for carbon pricing in both urban and rural areas (and lead to the defeat of I-2117).
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