I'm a college Republican. The GOP needs to prioritize climate change to win young voters.

Victoria Yaklin
·3 min read
19

As a young conservative involved with Republican campaigns, few things would make me happier than to wake up on Nov. 6 and learn Republicans have won the House, Senate and presidency.

But recent history shows that this is unlikely to happen. Republicans have struggled to put together winning national coalitions, with Republican presidential candidates failing to win the popular vote since 2004 — that’s 20 years.

A key part of this failure stems from our weakness with young voters: 59% of voters under the age of 30 voted for Joe Biden in 2020;  63% of young voters voted for Democrats in the House in 2022 and recent polling finds that only about 30% of young people are planning to vote for Donald Trump this year.

Opinion: Mike Braun won because voters know his name. No 'political outsider' can beat that.

Opinion: Student protests nurture antisemitic campus climate

While these numbers sound bad, Republicans have an opportunity to win over more young voters, since nearly a third of young voters consider themselves undecided.

Republicans stand to capitalize on the large number of undecided young voters if we can speak to the right issues. We are starting off strong, since young people’s top issues are inflation and jobs, according to the CIRCLE polling. These are issues that are viewed as strengths for Republicans. So what’s holding back support?

One issue is a lack of engagement on climate change. CIRCLE’s polling finds that climate change is a top-five issue for young voters and, by prioritizing reasonable climate policies that put America first, Republicans can expand our share of young voters.

The problems Republicans have with young voters on climate are real, and the votes we stand to gain by taking climate seriously are real as well. Surveys have found that only 39% of young voters believe Republicans care about climate change, but they have also found that over half of young voters say they are more likely to support Republican candidates if they recognize human-caused climate change and offer reasonable solutions.

My own experience bears this out. When talking with peers, I often hear that they lean center-right on most policy issues. However, the main reason they choose to support Democratic candidates when elections come around is that they feel current Republicans treat climate change as a “non-issue.”

Students in bipartisan group "Confront the Climate Crisis" meet with Democratic and Republican legislators on legislative advocacy day, Jan. 18, 2022, at the Indiana Statehouse.
Students in bipartisan group "Confront the Climate Crisis" meet with Democratic and Republican legislators on legislative advocacy day, Jan. 18, 2022, at the Indiana Statehouse.

Young voters, more than ever, feel the need to use our vote to guarantee security for our futures and the families we want to raise. The environmental crises we are experiencing today, such as a rapidly altering climate, escalating weather extremes and biodiversity loss, are threats that are top of mind for us.

Republican policymakers must start leading the climate conversation and ensuring that conservative principles are central to proposed climate legislation.

Some Republicans might wonder if this can be done without abandoning conservative principles, but Hoosier conservatives like Sen. Mike Braun and Rep. Jim Baird are already proving that climate doesn’t have to be a partisan issue. They have sponsored pro-farmer and pro-nature bills that would help us to reduce carbon emissions like the Growing Climate Solutions Act and the Increased TSP Access Act, which help the environment and preserve natural beauty without growing government.

There is a long tradition of conservatives taking practical, small-government steps to conserve what we love, and we should be employing policy to hold high-polluting countries accountable for their environmental irresponsibility.

Although these Republican leaders are leading on common sense climate solutions, young voters don’t know about it. As mentioned, only 39% of young voters believe Republicans care about climate change. Meanwhile, 76% of young voters, including 71% of Republicans, believe we should be doing more.

It’s time for Republican candidates to send a strong message to young undecided voters that the GOP not only understands the threat of climate change, but is willing to work on and enact the conservative solutions needed to preserve their futures.

Victoria Yaklin is a student at Butler University and the vice president of the Butler University College Republicans.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Climate change should be top priority to Republicans wooing youth vote