Every new president tries to claim a mandate for his agenda, that because he won the election that means the public supports everything he wants to do. But ask yourself this: Is there anything — anything — on the agenda of the Trump administration and the Republicans in Congress that […] Read more »
Was Trump’s Paris Exit Good Politics?
Was President Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris agreement on climate change — which was condemned by Democrats and even by some former senior Republican officials and key world leaders — at least good politics for him? Perhaps. The move could help Trump reinforce his support among […] Read more »
With withdrawal from Paris accord, Trump keeps focus squarely on his most devoted supporters
When President Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate accord, he cast the decision as being in the best interests of coal miners and other working-class Americans whose support helped sweep him into office. … The announcement on climate change Thursday was just the latest […] Read more »
In Rejecting Popular Paris Accord, Trump Bets on His Base
By a ratio of more than five to one, Americans in one recent poll said the United States should participate in the Paris climate change agreement that President Trump pulled out of on Thursday. Even a majority of Republicans agreed. But in Mr. Trump’s calculation, withdrawing from the accord will […] Read more »
The Paris Agreement Would Have Been Less Partisan 30 Years Ago
… Environmentalism in the U.S. used to be a fairly bipartisan issue. The Environmental Protection Agency, founded in 1970, was a product of the Nixon administration. But somewhere around 1990, everything changed. And it changed quickly, in ways that had big impacts on our ability to negotiate international environmental accords […] Read more »
The Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming Matters
Skuce et al., responding to Powell, title their article, “Does It Matter if the Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming Is 97% or 99.99%?” I argue that the extent of the consensus does matter, most of all because scholars have shown that the stronger the public believe the consensus to be, the […] Read more »