For most Americans the answer is “Not much.” Here’s why. Last weekend I read the report “ Politics Without Winners CAN EITHER PARTY BUILD A MAJORITY COALITION? ” by Ruy Teixeira and Yuval Levin of the center-right think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
The Executive Summary begins by noting that “In the American political system, the parties’ purpose is to form enduring national coalitions. Look at almost any point in American history, and you will find a majority party working to sustain a complex coalition and a minority party hoping to recapture the majority. Today, however, American politics features two minority parties, and neither seems interested in building a national coalition.
” It then goes on to analyze how a majority party might arise. In doing so, in the short section “Energy Realism” (pp. 39-41), it addresses how Americans view the challenge of climate change and what must be done to address it.
In this section it discusses survey findings where respondents were asked how much they would pay on top of their monthly utility bill to combat climate change. The increments were $1, $10, $20, and $75 dollars. At a mere $1 only seven percent of respondents were more willing to pay this than not.
Twice as many political independents opposed this charge than supported it. Support from the working class was less than for those with a college education where there was a 20 point difference. Margins widened at $10.
Working class respondents opp.
