Rohrabacher's climate denial helped swing conservative California district, survey shows

[pecosbob]

https://thinkprogress.org/rohrabachers-poor-record-on-climate-helped-swing-conservative-california-district-survey-finds-72ba723e43fd/

California’s historic wildfires, combined with the climate denial views of one Republican incumbent, appear to have helped sway voters in the state to elect a Democrat in a longtime conservative congressional district during the midterm elections, new analysis shows.

On November 6, real estate developer Harley Rouda (D) defeated Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a 15-term incumbent, to represent the 48th congressional district of California, which stretches along the Pacific coastline of Orange County from Seal Beach to Laguna Beach.

For the survey, voters in the district were asked questions about the election and the impact of the advertisement, titled “Fire & Smoke.” The script of the advertisement focused on wildfires and climate change:

While it gets hotter and fire and smoke choke our air, Dana Rohrabacher is radically opposed to efforts to fight climate change. He says that “global warming is a fraud.” Rohrabacher sided with fossil fuel companies and voted against a plan to reduce carbon dioxide pollution, saying they don’t hurt people’s health.

More than two thirds of voters in the district — including 71 percent of swing voters — recall having seen the climate advertisement.

The respondents cited Rohrabacher’s stance on climate change as a main reason for their opposition, along with his ties to Putin’s Russia, his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, the presidency of fellow Republican Donald Trump, and Rohrabacher’s 30-year tenure in Congress.

I hope this is a major part of the Dem platform for 2020...

[malaise]

1. Important thread

Get thee to the greatest page

[gratuitous]

2. Democrats seem to be on the popular side of a lot of issues

Whether it's climate change, women's health, tax fairness, firearm regulation, or any number of other issues, Democrats seem to be on the popular side of all of them. But for some reason, the media keep harping on the voters that Democrats will never win over whose votes Democrats will "lose" if they don't abandon their principles.

Harley Rouda runs a campaign that stubbornly cleaves to that popular position and dislodges a longstanding piece of congressional deadwood. None of the Very Serious People in the media can quite figure out how it happened.

[pecosbob]

4. That was reason for my post

Constant input from the one-percenters and the No Labels ilk counseling Dems to move to the center...

[Garrett78]

5. The media and a tyranny of the minority system are huge hurdles.

[Garrett78]

3. I lean toward our 2020 convention taking place in Miami so as to highlight this issue.

And because winning Florida would guarantee victory.