Hi, 

With only two full days left until the first presidential primary votes of 2020 begin in Iowa, there will be lots of focus on climate. A Des Moines Register poll found that it’s the second most important issue (behind health care) for likely caucus-goers. That squares with our polling last year of rural voters in Iowa and seven other states with One Country Project. Those voters said they are looking for practical climate solutions that also improve American competitiveness. If Democrats want to maintain the House and take back the White House and Senate,  then candidates in rural and swing districts have every incentive to focus their climate message on these voter priorities. 

Not sure where Democratic presidential candidates stand on policy? Take a look at our side-by-side comparison of frontrunners’ stances on climate and clean energy policies here. 

#CleanFuture

Fracking Ban Platform Could Halt a Democrat’s Path to the White House

Last Friday, The New York Times’ podcast The Daily issued a stark warning to national Democrats from Pennsylvania Democratic elected officials, union leaders, and voters: embrace a fracking ban at your own peril. On Monday, Times reporters Lisa Friedman and Shane Goldmacher wrote a follow-up warning that for 2020 Democrats, supporting a ban could be commensurate with Hillary Clinton’s comments on coal in 2016, which may have cost her the state.

Bernie Sanders has introduced legislation to ban fracking. But in this swing state, “you’re talking hundreds of thousands of related jobs that … would be unemployed overnight,” said Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman, who has endorsed Sanders in the past, and vice versa. “Pennsylvania is a margin play. And an outright ban on fracking isn’t a margin play.”