Climate change question at Milwaukee debate shows concerns among young conservatives

MADISON – Just 20 minutes into the Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee last week, moderators asked an unlikely question about an issue that normally ranks low among conservative voters' concerns.

On a day that Milwaukee's heat index reached 114 degrees — the effect of a heat dome, a more common phenomenon amid rising ocean temperatures — moderators asked the candidates if they believed humans caused climate change.

Though he wished more candidates had answered, it was an exciting moment for Brian Martinez, the Midwest Director for the American Conservation Coalition. The group mobilizes young conservatives on climate change, an issue typically less salient among Republicans. He said it was "impactful" to see the first and only audience question posed by a "young, Hispanic conservative."

"It really shows that the party is changing, the conversation is changing," he said. "It was an incredible opportunity that young people, front and center, on national television, had the only audience question which really showed some true colors."

The group offers a window into how the Republican Party may have to compete with Democrats for the support of younger generations — especially in Wisconsin, where college students were crucial in flipping the state Supreme Court to liberal control.

"We're not going away as young people. Young people are going to be the future of this party, the future of the country," ACC's founder, Benji Backer, said in a CBS interview after the debate.

Jake Williams, chair of the College Democrats of Wisconsin, agreed the question showed the ability of youth voters to "rearrange the priorities that both parties are focusing on, to the point now that the GOP can't ignore it or squirrel it away at the end where there's lower viewership."

The question signaled to candidates that climate change is something young conservatives take seriously, said Dominique Brossard, a professor and chair of the Department of Life Sciences Communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"The fact that they did ask the question at a Republican debate for the primary, that there was a young conservative on video — that already tells you that this is an issue that has made the public discourse in a way that's not a fringe issue," Brossard said.

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Young voters praise Haley's response, disappointed in Ramaswamy

Climate change was the second topic Fox News moderators Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier posed to the candidates after a question on the economy kicked off the debate. The subject came up even before abortion, crime and former President Donald Trump's indictments.

"Polls consistently show that young people's number one issue is climate change. How would you as both president of the United States and leader of the Republican Party calm their fears that the Republican Party doesn't care about climate change?" asked Alexander Diaz, who started ACC at the Catholic University of America.

It was the only question the moderators included from the Young America's Foundation, a sponsor of the debate and group headed by former Gov. Scott Walker that molds young conservative voters. While early details about the format of the debate said YAF would submit pre-taped questions, a YAF spokesman said Fox News interviewed students at one of their conferences and initially suggested they would use a question on border security or the economy instead.

MacCallum asked the candidates to raise their hands if they believe humans cause climate change. Only former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson began raising his hand before Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shut down the ask, saying the candidates were not "schoolchildren."

DeSantis focused on President Joe Biden's response to wildfires in Hawaii, while South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott talked about bringing jobs back to the U.S. from countries with higher carbon emissions. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said the "climate change agenda is a hoax" — prompting boos in the audience.

Human-caused climate change has manifested itself in Wisconsin — including impacting air quality due to wildfire smoke, creating difficult conditions for the state's trout population and increasing the frequency of severe storms.

A small minority of Americans truly deny that climate change exists, Brossard said, and most voters have made up their minds on the issue. Most political divides are over policies to combat climate change, which politicians may be more "reluctant to talk about," she said.

Williams said Democrats' position to hold oil and gas companies responsible for carbon emissions, rather than individuals, is most attractive to young voters — not Ramaswamy's push to "unlock American energy, drill, frack (and) burn coal." Ramaswamy also supported nuclear energy, a lower-emission source many Americans now support, along with ACC.

Apart from Hutchinson's hand raise, only South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley directly acknowledged that climate change is real. In her response, she focused on Biden's "green subsidies" that Republicans argue benefit China, a large manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries.

"We do care about clean air, clean water. We want to see that taken care of. But there's a right way to do it. And the right way is first of all, yes, is climate change real? Yes, it is," said Haley, also a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Brossard said Haley realized "not only young voters, but also a lot of moderate Republicans, know that this is an issue that is important to think about."

In a statement following the debate, ACC said "candidate engagement on the question left much to be desired" but praised Haley for "being the one to speak up and offer a conservative path forward on the issue." Martinez noted other candidates have acknowledged the reality of climate change outside of the debate.

"While unfortunately not everyone was able to answer that question, I think it's really impactful in showing the Republican Party is entering a new era," Martinez said.

ACC represents growing concern among conservative youth

When he meets with college students, "they always say, 'I didn't know you guys existed. I've always wanted to talk about climate change, but I didn't know that there was an avenue for me to talk about it,'" said Martinez, a 2020 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

The organization has Wisconsin roots — Backer founded ACC in Appleton seven years ago. Long-time staff members have good relationships with former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who the group will host at a September event in Milwaukee, Martinez said.

Benjamin Garbedian, vice chair of the Wisconsin Young Republicans, said ACC is "filling a void" in conservative environmentalism. While he said climate change is not the top issue among most conservatives he talks to, "it is an issue that is cared about by a lot of young people."

"I think if we want to win elections, we need to reach everybody. I think the work they're doing is unique and fills a spot that hasn't been talked about by other groups," Garbedian said. "They're also promoting it within the party and getting it to the level that it gets asked about at a debate."

Williams said "all kinds of efforts on trying to address climate are good," but he doesn't see groups like ACC as a challenge. Young people are voting for Democrats who address what young people see in their daily lives, Williams said, not Republicans who avoid the topic or fail to propose policies.

"In our childhoods, we never could recall a day where we couldn't go outside because you'd be choking on smoke and the skies were orange," Williams said, referring to poor air quality events this summer. "Now, we're going to college, and we're voting."

Younger, liberal voters more concerned about climate, polls show

While climate change is typically more of a concern among Democrats rather than Republicans, that sentiment could be changing among young conservatives.

Surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center found that younger Republicans who describe their views as moderate or liberal are more likely than older, more conservative members of the party to see climate change as a problem and believe it was caused by humans. Three-in-ten young conservatives said fossil fuels should be phased out altogether, compared to less than 10% of Republicans over age 50.

A Marquette Law School poll conducted in September found climate change was second-to-last on Republicans' list of concerns, followed only by COVID-19. For Democrats, climate change was number three, after gun violence and abortion policy.

"Climate change has been an issue that has been dominated by the left for pretty much my entire life," Garbedian said. "If Republicans or conservatives want to start winning elections, we need to start having responses on every single issue."

In the same Marquette poll, 88% of respondents ages 18-29 were "very" or "somewhat" concerned about climate change, the highest percentage among the age groups surveyed. Respondents over age 60 were highest for "very concerned," at 47%, compared to 43% of the youngest age group.

More: Climate concern in Wisconsin is more common than you think, a new study says

Millennials and Gen Z, the generations born between 1981 and 2012, will become a majority of the electorate by the 2028 election, according to the Brookings Institution. Those youngest generations eligible to vote largely supported Democrats in the 2022 midterms.

Martinez referenced the Republican Party's 2013 "autopsy," led by then-chairman Reince Priebus of Wisconsin, that found the party needed to change their strategy on reaching young voters. What Republicans need to do now, he said, is have honest conversations about climate change.

"Young people are going to be a significant voting bloc, especially in 2024, in 2028, and so on, for these presidential elections," Martinez said. "If Republicans don't get their acts together, especially when it comes to climate, denial is no longer an option."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Young conservatives see win in climate change question at GOP debate