November election did not temper voters' taste for climate action

On the same day that Governor Inslee announced his bold climate priorities agenda for the 2019 legislative session, newly published exit polling from this November’s election shows that a large majority of Washington voters want climate action.  

Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates conducted the poll between November 6-14, 2018.* The top findings were:

1. While Washington voters rejected Initiative 1631, they continue to overwhelmingly believe that climate change is real and that action is required.  

Figure 1: Climate Change Awareness

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2. Two-thirds of voters support a shift to 100% clean energy generation by 2045, and clean transportation fuel policy also garners a majority of support.  Among those that support climate action but did not vote for I-1631, 71% want the state to adopt a 100% clean electricity policy.

Figure 3: Support for Climate Policies

Total Support (Strongly Support) – Total Oppose

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3. One third to a half of voters are more likely to support a state legislator who backs these policies.   

Figure 4: Impact of Support for Policies on Likelihood to Vote for a State Legislator

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The newly released poll confirms that even many voters who opposed I-1631 continue to support action to address global warming and increase clean energy use. Washington voters are ready for complementary approaches to addressing the climate crisis.


* About the poll:

  • 1,216 interviews with November 2018 voters in Washington state
  • Conducted November 6-14, 2018, online and via landline and cell phones
  • Margin of sampling error of +/-2.8% at the 95% confidence interval; +/-4.9% for each one-third sample
  • Funded by Audubon Washington, Climate Solutions, The Nature Conservancy, Washington Conservation Voters and Washington Environmental Council

Author Bio

The article was written by Climate Solutions staff. Our individual bios can be found here.

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