In a desperate attempt to boost his flagging poll numbers and empower his administration to force-feed America a climate agenda it has repeatedly rejected, President Biden and his White House are once again weighing the possibility of declaring a climate emergency.
A decision isn’t expected soon but the topic is now top of mind for the Biden White House.
Declaring a climate emergency would empower the federal government to crack down on offshore drilling, greenhouse gas emissions, and more — all in the name of an “emergency.”
Imagine the abuses of power carried out in the name of the COVID emergency and you will start to understand how a government-declared “emergency” can change major aspects of the lives of everyday Americans (and for no good reason).
White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez in a statement to Bloomberg did not comment on the deliberations but said Biden has “delivered on the most ambitious climate agenda in history” and “will continue to build a clean energy future that lowers utility bills, creates good-paying union jobs, makes our economy the envy of the world and prioritizes communities that for too long have been left behind.”
This is an agenda and a future that many Americans have rejected by and large, mind you. Electric vehicle sales projections are being pulled way back as major manufacturers cut orders due to lack of demand. Gas stove bans and other costly measures have also met resistance.
Meanwhile, President Biden is losing the support of younger voters — a group that’s likely to prioritize climate as an issue — to 2024 GOP presidential opponent Donald Trump, according to a new Harvard Youth Poll.
From Politico:
Biden leads Trump, 45 percent to 37 percent, among people ages 18 to 29 in a Harvard Youth Poll released Thursday, with 16 percent undecided. That 8 percentage point margin is much smaller than at this point in the 2020 election. At that time, Biden was leading Trump by 23 percentage points among young people.
Biden’s margins widen when the pool is restricted to registered and likely voters. But, still, his 19-point lead over Trump among the voters under 30 who are considered likely to turn out is significantly smaller than his 30-point advantage this time four years ago.
Would a climate emergency give Biden’s younger supporters the zap they need to roll out on Election Day? Maybe, but it’s far from a sure thing.
