Resource Type: Research & Articles

Describing “hardworking families” as the heroes of a political narrative and “big, greedy corporations” as the villains may be the best progressive economic message. Climate change and water issues are a top concern for New Mexico voters. This report describes ways for progressives to connect more deeply with New Mexicans and communicate their vision and agenda in more authentic language that resonates, excites, and persuades. New Mexicans value family, fairness, opportunity, and respect for communities. Any successful message will engage with those core values. This report describes emotions in play, personal values, pain points, and aspirations relevant to New Mexico voters, in addition to variations on successful political messages and how they relate to survey data gathered for this report.             

This resource looks at where Black audiences are when they are online and how they act when they get there. This goes beyond reliance on polls and surveys to create a more complete picture of the culture people are consuming, creating and being inspired by. Key takeaways include the identification of five distinct Black audiences: Strivers, Planners, Learners, Gamers, and Bootstrapers, along with the most popular platforms (Google and YouTube) and the fact that most Black people are getting COVID news from mainstream and left-leaning outlets on their desktops.          

Be careful about emphasizing climate threats, as this can increase racism and xenophobia among certain people. People who are informed about the negative effects of climate change (such as wildfires, floods, resource scarcity, etc.) may become more hostile towards immigrants and less likely to support or value the pursuit of racial equity. This effect was stronger among those with a pre-existing belief that some groups in society should be able to dominate others.

Survey of Detroit adults sought to measure concern for and perception of the impacts of climate change and other environmental threats like pollution, flooding, and storms, how these threats impact different racial/ethnic groups, and how adults’ views on these issues vary by race and ethnicity. 

From a nationally representative poll of registered voters fielded from Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2020, more than eight in 10 (82%) say achieving 100% clean energy should be the primary goal of U.S. energy policy, and more than six in 10 (63%) say developing more renewables should be the priority when seeking to address U.S. energy needs, compared to gas (15%) or nuclear (9%). Almost six in 10 (58%) say increasing production of renewables is more likely to create a greater number of good jobs than increasing production of fossil fuels (25%). 

From a nationally representative poll of registered voters fielded on Oct. 13, 2020, three-quarters (73%) of voters say they are worried about climate change, including 87% of Black Protestants, 82% of nonwhite Catholics, 77% of white Catholics, 76% of Jews, and 57% of white evangelical Protestants. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of voters want a multi-trillion-dollar federal economic stimulus to invest in clean energy infrastructure as part of COVID-19 recovery, including 72% of Black Protestants and 54% of white evangelical Protestants.