I wouldn’t consider voting for any of these people in the general election, but I recognize that people often live in gerrymandered districts, and therefore vote in Republican primaries in order to have some influence over their local representatives. For people living in such a district, choosing a least-bad candidate is a way try and moderate the Republican party just a bit.
Candidates are listed by poll-based estimates of their support, which makes it rather clear that Republicans as a whole have sought to reject any kind of meaningful path to zero greenhouse gas emissions.
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Trump: His actions as president may have caused irreversible damage to the global climate.
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DeSantis: He has supported efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change, but not to prevent it.
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Scott: He acknowledges climate change but rejects most efforts to stop it.
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Ramaswamy: He opposes all government efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
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Haley: She supports carbon-capture technology but has denounced efforts to reduce emissions.)
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Pence: He claims climate change is exaggerated and would prioritize domestic energy production.
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Christie: He supports action on climate change with some caveats.
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Hutchinson: He denounces government mandates but supports private renewable energy development.
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Burgum: He has supported carbon-capture as governor, but what he would do as president is unclear.
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Hurd: He acknowledges that climate change is a major threat, but what he would do is unclear.
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Suarez: He has pursued significant emission reductions in Miami.
Largely anecdotal but my experience is the people I know that were soundly in the “climate change isn’t real and it’s just a hoax” camp are now pretty much all in the “okay it’s probably real but just a natural thing that happens to the earth. Happened before and will happen again. It has nothing to do with us.” So it makes sense that a person with that mindset would ignore the problem or even acknowledge it straight on but refuse to actually do anything about it.
Still baffling tho…
“Alright fine, my house is burning down around me, but it wasn’t arson, it’s just an electrical fire! I’m just gonna hang out on the sofa and watch Fox.”