More than one-third of registered voters in the United States state global warming, or climate change, is “very important” to their vote and want to elect candidates who support climate action. 

Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris will face off on Nov. 5 for the presidency and have stated differing opinions on climate change.

The Harris’ campaign

Harris, with current President Joe Biden, has worked to address climate change through legislation such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the IRA gave funding for local projects which will alleviate the effects of climate change and benefit other areas of the economy. The IRA was signed on Aug. 16, 2022, and a year after it was signed the Biden administration stated it has made changes. 

Within the first year the IRA was signed into law, there was $110 billion in new clean energy manufacturing including $10 billion in solar manufacturing. The administration also awarded over a billion dollars to protect communities from the impacts of climate change when struck by hurricanes or droughts. The White House stated within the first year of the IRA’s implementation American families were projected to save between $27-38 billion on electricity bills between 2022 and 2030.

In a speech regarding its second year anniversary, Harris spoke positively about the IRA while running for president, saying the legislation is also improving manufacturing and innovation. 

“While taking on the climate crisis and lowering utility bills for families, it is helping us to rebuild American manufacturing and drive American innovation,” Harris said.

But there is a question of whether Harris will continue to address climate change in her agenda called New Way Forward if she wins the presidency. Seth Schuster, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said there is not another candidate who will “fight harder” to combat climate change. 

“She’s proud to have delivered the most significant climate legislation in American history with President Biden,” Schuster said. 

According to her presidential campaign website, as president she will “unite” citizens to tackle climate change and build on President Biden’s “historic work,” including environmental justice, increasing resilience to climate disasters, and lowering household energy costs.  

“She and Governor Walz will always fight for the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis,” her website states. 

Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate and Democratic vice presidential nominee in early August. 

As governor, Walz has championed many initiatives on climate change, including 40 during the 2023 legislative session in Minnesota. One legislation included a law requiring All Minnesotans to get all their electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040 to stop climate change caused by coal and gas pollution.   

A report from NPR stated climate change activists have given “praise” to Harris for picking Walz as his running mate, including from Jamie Henn of Fossil Free Media.
“Tim Walz had the best climate record of any of the VP contenders and has been unafraid to take on Big Oil,” Henn wrote on X.

Trump’s outlook

Before Trump ran for president in 2016, he was known for calling climate change, or global warming, a “hoax,” which he attributed to China in 2012. 

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” Trump wrote on X. 

During his first administration, The Brookings Institution said Trump was more interested in stopping climate policy than addressing climate change, highlighting his 2017 executive order stating for every new regulation, two regulations have to be eliminated. 

The New York Times reported that by the end of his presidency, Trump had completed “roll backs” on 98 environmental policies and was in progress on an additional 14. 

Trump’s Agenda47, a plan detailing what policies he would enact during his possible second administration, does not state climate change as an issue which should be addressed. He instead focuses on making America produce more oil.

Trump stated, “America must have the number one lowest cost energy and electricity on Earth” through producing more oil. His website also stated this will lower inflation and allow America to become the manufacturing “superpower” of the world. 

“To keep pace with the world economy that depends on fossil fuels for more than 80% of its energy, President Trump will DRILL, BABY, DRILL,” his website states. 

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Trump also spread misinformation on climate change, saying wind turbines cause cancer and sink property values by 75%. 

During a recent rally in Pennsylvania on Sept. 29 for his 2024 Presidential bid, three days after the impact of  Hurricane Helene, Trump denied the existence of climate change. 
JD Vance, Trump’s running mate and the vice presidential Republican nominee, responded to Hurricane Helene in relation to climate change during the vice presidential debate between him and Walz, hosted by CBS on Oct. 1.

Vance took a bipartisan approach to Hurricane Helene by saying he and Walz’s “hearts” and “prayers” go out to those affected, calling it an “unbelievable, unspeakable human tragedy.” He said they both want the federal government to help people affected by natural disasters.

But Vance said he and Trump want to make the environment cleaner and safer since Americans worry about these “crazy weather patterns.” 

“We want as robust and aggressive a federal response as we can get to save as many lives as possible,” Vance said. 

The last day for U.S. citizens to cast their ballot is Election Day on Nov. 5.