The Environmental Voter Project (EVP) is seeing what many climate change activists and groups are seeing in Georgia: a chance for climate-first voters to truly make a difference. According to data from EVP released on Monday, 12.1% of early votes in the Georgia runoff were cast by climate voters, making up more than 40% of environmentalist voters identified by the group. EVP also found that 5,733 climate voters who sat out the midterms ended up voting early in the runoff.
“Climate voters are even more energized for the Georgia runoff election than they were for the general election four weeks ago,” said founder and EVP executive director Nathaniel Stinnett. “If early voting numbers are any indication of total turnout, climate voters will be one of the big surprises of Election Day.” This excitement over making climate a top-tier issue for elected officials tracks with recent data that suggest not only are climate votes crucial for this runoff, but especially the climate votes of young people.
Analysis from Tufts University found that in Georgia especially young voters made a substantial difference when it came to choosing a candidate willing to fight for environmental issues. More than 115,000 new young voters cast their ballots for Sen. Raphael Warnock. Though their reasons may vary, it’s abundantly clear that Warnock is a substantially better choice for the planet than Herschel Walker.
Walker’s climate claims are mostly laughable and certainly not actionable as policy. Take his belief that China’s “bad air” could contaminate the U.S’s “good air.” As Georgia Public Broadcasting reports, “that’s not how that works.” No one concerned with truly battling the climate crisis would take seriously an outright lie. It’s what likely brought so many climate-first voters to the polls during the midterms in the first place.
With the runoff election set for Tuesday, all eyes will be on Georgia. Warnock bested Walker by 36,465 votes in November and, if EVP’s efforts prove successful, that number will rise substantially. The nonprofit has reached out to 131,984 environmentalists they deem “unlikely to vote” but who could help ensure Warnock’s victory.