The Koch brothers, aka the world’s leading climate-deniers, regularly use their political influence and wealth to push bunk science against climate change. Most of the conservative politicians they fund do the same, but a new poll released yesterday shows that the rest of their party may be moving on. A survey conducted in late August shows that more than half of Republicans “believe the world’s climate is changing and that mankind plays some role in the change,” the New York Times reported yesterday.
According to the New York Times:
The results echo a number of other recent surveys concluding that despite the talk of many of the party’s candidates, a significant number of Republicans and independent voters are inclined to support candidates who would back some form of climate action. It may also point to a problem facing Republicans seeking their party’s presidential nomination: The activists who crowd town hall meetings and Republican presidential caucuses and primaries might not reflect the broader attitude of even the Republican electorate.
It’s not just climate change where the Kochs are losing support. When it comes to renewable energy sources such as solar power (which the Kochs have campaigned heavily against), 72 percent of Republicans and independents think developing those sources is a good idea.
Despite this, Tim Phillips, president of the Kochs’ political long arm, Americans for Prosperity, told the Times that “to enact the policy agenda of global warming movement is a political loser… If a candidate came out in favor of a carbon tax — that is clearly a political loser.”
In a recent Forbes interview, Charles Koch even questioned that humans were connected to global warming, even though 54 percent of Republicans agree that “mankind plays some role.”
According to Forbes:
Q. Is it good science to conclude humans are the cause?
A.[Charles Koch] It’s not settled, it’s not certain. Anybody who says something this complex is settled is not using good science.
While more Republicans get on board with climate change and support candidates who want to take action, the Kochs are pushing the GOP field outside the mainstream. The Kochs don’t have to care if their anti-climate change message is effecting electability, though. They’ve already insured the GOP candidates are on their side. In their efforts to win the Koch primary, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul all signed “a pledge that would ‘oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue,'” according to NPR.
The Kochs are holding the Republican party hostage when it comes to this and many other issues. Why? Not because of science or values — because of greed. All of the Kochs’ anti-climate change efforts are efforts to protect their profit margins.