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Partisan Divide Over Climate Change is Narrowing in Florida
The partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats in Florida over climate change is diminishing. In a recent survey on Florida Climate Resilency by Florida Atlantic University, a record number of Florida Republicans agree that human actions are causing climate change. Since 2019, the percentage of Republicans who agree that climate change is caused by human activity has increased by 10 percent.
This is a step in the right direction, as it signals Florida Republicans are not only recognizing the threat posed by climate change, but they are becoming open to the idea of taking action to address climate change.
There are a few reasons why the partisan divide over climate change in Florida may be narrowing. First is the effects of climate change are harder to ignore as they grow more severe. In 2022, Floridians experienced two major storms: Hurricane Ian in Southwest Florida, and Nicole on Florida’s East coast. Between both storms, NOAA estimated the financial and physical damage totaled more than $113 billion and caused over 150 deaths.
Outside of the personal impact, these storms are impacting Florida businesses, whose leaders see the hit to their bottom line and are beginning to see the need to take action on climate change.
