Element contents
Series: Elements in American Politics
Red, Green, and Blue
The Partisan Divide on Environmental Issues
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2019
Summary
This Element explores the growing party divisions on the environment in the United States. It draws upon quantitative and qualitative data from several decades of national and state politics. The study contributes theory to the party position change literature, showing that interest groups change parties, but in turn are changed by them. In the 1970s the characteristics that predicted voters' attitudes on the environment also predicted legislators' votes. Yet as environmentalists and their opponents aligned with parties, officials had incentives to set their own views aside to represent new party constituencies. Influence flowed in both directions, however. Environmentalists were drawn to the Democrats as they confronted GOP-linked business lobbies. Environmentalists' resulting need to cooperate with other groups close to Democrats led them to change their positions. Although environmentalists were long unwelcoming to minorities, they embraced immigration reform, allied with unions on trade, and worked with civil rights lobbies and labor in battles over judicial nominations. The Element concludes with discussion of how the current party alignment on the environment might change.
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Series: Elements in American PoliticsOnline ISBN: 9781108673266Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 25 April 2019
References
Achen, Christopher H. and Bartels, Larry. 2016. Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Don’t Produce Responsive Government. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, Greg D. 1997. “Abortion: Evidence of an Issue Evolution.” American Journal of Political Science. Vol. 41 No. 3: 718–737.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bawn, Kathleen, Cohen, Martin, Karol, David, Masket, Seth, Noel, Hans, and Zaller, John. 2012. “A Theory of Political Parties: Groups, Policy Demands and Nominations in American Politics.” Perspectives on Politics. Vol. 10 No. 3: 571–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baylor, Christopher. 2018. First to the Party: The Group Origins of Political Transformation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Bean, Lydia and Teles, Steven M.. 2015. Spreading the Gospel of Climate Change: An Evangelical Battleground. Washington DC: New America Foundation.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Jonathan and Dominguez, Casey B. K.. 2003. ”Candidates and Candidacies in the Expanded Party.” P.S. Political Science & Politics. Vol. 36 No. 2: 165–169CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Billings, Dwight B. and Samson, Will. 2012 “Evangelical Christians and the Environment: “Christians for the Mountains” and the Appalachian Movement against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining.” Worldviews. Vol. 16 No. 1: 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binder, Sarah A. and Maltzman, Forrest. 2002. “Senatorial Delay in Confirming Federal Judges, 1947–1998.” American Journal of Political Science. Vol. 46 No. 1: 190–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishin, Benjamin G. 2009. Tyranny of the Minority: The Subconstituency Theory of Representation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Bishop, Bill G. and Cushing, Robert. 2008. The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar
Brooks, Karl. 2009. Public Power, Private Dams: The Hells Canyon High Dam Controversy. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Burnham, Walter Dean. 1970. Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Carmines, Edward and Stimson, James. 1989. Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnes, Nicholas. 2013. White-Collar Government. The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, Neil. 2013. “Greening the Mainstream: Party Politics and the Environment.” Environmental Politics. Vol. 22 No. 1: 73–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Anthony S. 2009. The Fifth Freedom: Jobs, Politics and Civil Rights in the United States, 1941–1972. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, Alice. 2001. “The Sierra Club and Immigration Policy: A Critique.” Politics and the Life Sciences. 19–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, Marty, Karol, David, Noel, Hans, and Zaller, John. 2008. The Party Decides: Parties before and after Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, James M. and Lee, Frances E.. 2019. “Non-Party Government: Bipartisan Lawmaking and Party Power in Congress.” Perspectives on Politics. Vol. 17 No. 1:47-65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, Russell J. 2009. “Economics, Environmentalism and Party Alignments: A Note on Partisan Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies.” European Journal of Political Research. Vol. 48 No. 2: 161–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danielsen, Sabrina. 2013. “Fracturing Over Creation Care? Shifting Environmental Beliefs among Evangelicals, 1984–2010.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Vol. 52 No. 1: 198–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dark, Taylor E. 2001. The Unions and Democrats: An Enduring Alliance. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derthick, Martha. 2012. “From Litigation to Legislation: The Surrender of Phillip Morris.” Political Science Quarterly. Vol. 127 No. 3: 401–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dominguez, Casey and Skinner, Richard. 2014. “Friends and Family: A Sketch of Group-Party Alliance Over Time.” Paper Presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August 27, 2014 – August 31, 2014, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Dunlap, Riley E. and Allen, Michael Patrick. 1976. “Partisan Differences on Environmental Issues: A Congressional Roll-Call Analysis.” Western Political Quarterly. Vol. 29 No. 3: 384–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunlap, Riley and McCright, Aaron, 2011. “Organized Climate Change Denial.” In John S. Dryzek, Richard Norgaard and David Schosberg, eds., Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Egan, Patrick J. and Mullin, Megan. 2017. “Climate Change: US Public Opinion” Annual Review of Political Science. Vol. 20: 209–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engel, Steven T. and Jackson, David J.. 1998. “Wielding the Stick instead of the Carrot: Labor PAC Punishment of Pro-NAFTA Democrats.” Political Research Quarterly. Vol. 51 No. 3: 813–828.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinstein, Brian D. and Schickler, Eric. 2008. Platforms and Partners: The Civil Rights Realignment Reconsidered. Studies in American Political Development. Vol. 22 No. 1: 1–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. Jr. 1978. Home Style: House Members in their Districts. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Fisher, Dana R. 2004. National Governance and the Global Climate Change Regime. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Flippen, J. Brooks. 2000. Nixon and the Environment. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Fox, Steven R. 1981. The American Conservation Movement: John Muir and his Legacy. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Frymer, Paul. 1999. Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gamson, William A. and Modigliani, Andre. 1989. “Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructivist Approach.” American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 95 No. 1: 1–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelpi, Christopher and Feaver, Peter. 2002. “Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick? Veterans in the Political Elite and the American Use of Force.” American Political Science Review. Vol. 96 No. 4: 779–793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grose, , Christian, R. 2011. Congress in Black and White: Race and Representation in Washington and at Home. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grumbach, Jacob M. 2018. “From Backwaters to Major Policymakers: Policy Polarization in the States, 1970–2014.” Perspectives on Politics. Vol. 6: 416–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadden, Jennifer. 2015. Networks in Contention: The Divisive Politics of Climate Change. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Robert J. 1953. “States’ Rights and Vested Interests.” Journal of Politics. Vol. 15 No. 4: 457–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hays, Samuel. 1959. Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Conservation Movement: 1890–1920. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hinchcliffe, Kelsey L. and Lee, Frances E.. 2016. “Party Competition and Conflict in State Legislatures.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly. Vol. 16 No. 2: 172–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, David A. 2017. Red Fighting Blue: How Geography and Electoral Rules Polarize American Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, Ronald. 1995. “Public Support for Environmental Protection: Objective Problems and Subjective Values in 43 Societies” PS- Political Science & Politics. Vol. 28 No. 1: 57–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, David J. and Engel, Steven T.. 2003. “Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote for Free Trade: The Dynamics of the Labor PAC Punishment Strategy over PNTR.” Political Research Quarterly. Vol. 56 No. 4: 441–448.Google Scholar
Kalman, Laura. 2017. The Long Reach of the Sixties: LBJ, Nixon and the Making of the Contemporary Supreme Court. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kamienicki, Sheldon. 1995. “Political Parties and Environmental Policy.” In Lester, James P., ed., Environmental Politics and Policy: Theories and Evidence. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Karol, David. 2009. Party Position Change in American Politics: Coalition Management. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karol, David. 2014. “Parties Revised and Revived: Democrats and Republicans in the Age of Reagan.” In Marjorie Hershey, ed., CQ Press Guide to U.S. Political Parties. Thousand Oaks: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Karol, David. 2015. “Party Activists, Interest Groups and Polarization in American Politics.” In Thurber, James A. and Yoshinaka, Antoine, eds., American Gridlock: The Sources, Character and Impact of Political Polarization. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Karol, David and Thurston, Chloe. 2014. “From Personal to Partisan: Abortion, Party and Religion in the California State Assembly, 1967–2000.” Paper presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the European Political Science Association. June 19, 2014 – 21 June, 2014, Edinburgh, Scotland.Google Scholar
King, Leslie. 2008. “Ideology, Strategy and Conflict in a Social Movement Organization: The Sierra Club Immigration Wars.” Mobilization: The International Quarterly. Vol. 13 No.1: 45–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klyza, Christopher McGrory and Sousa, David J.. 2013. American Environmental Policy: Beyond Gridlock. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Kousser, Thad. 2009. “How Geopolitics Cleaved California’s Republicans and United its Democrats.” California Journal of Politics and Policy. Vol. 1 No. 1: 2–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layman, Geoffrey C., Carsey, Thomas M., Green, John C., Herrera, Richard, Cooperman, Rosalyn. 2010. “Activists and Conflict Extension in American Politics.” American Political Science Review. Vol. 104 No. 2: 324–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Layzer, Judith A. 2012. Open for Business: Conservatives’ Opposition to Environmental Regulation. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lenz, Gabriel. 2012. Follow the Leader? How Voters Respond to Politicians’ Policies and Performance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockwood, Matthew. 2018. “Right-Wing Populism and the Climate Change Agenda: Exploring the Linkages.” Environmental Politics. Vol. 27 No.4: 712–732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, Thomas. 2016. Public Opinion, Public Policy, and Smoking: The Transformation of American Attitudes and Cigarette Use, 1890–2016. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David R. 1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David R. 1986. Placing Parties in American Politics: Organization, Electoral Settings and Government Activity in the Twentieth Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayhew, David R. 2004. Electoral Realignments: A Critique of an American Genre. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
McCright, Aaron M. and Dunlap, Riley. E.. 2011. “The Politicization of Climate Change and Polarization of the American Public’s Views of Global Warming, 2001–2010.” Sociological Quarterly. Vol. 52 No. 2: 155–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGirr, Lisa. 2015. The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
McTague, John and Pearson-Merkowitz, Shana. 2013. “Voting from the Pew; The Effect of Senators’ Religious Identities on Partisan Polarization in the U.S. Senate.” Legislative Studies Quarterly. Vol. 38: 405–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, John M. 1997. “Gifford Pinchot, John Muir and the Boundaries of Politics in American Thought.” Polity. Vol. 30. No. 2: 267–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miler, Kristina C. 2010. Constituency Representation in Congress: The View from the Hill. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Warren E. and Stokes, Donald W.. 1963. “Constituency Influence in Congress.” American Political Science Review. Vol. 57: 45–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, Robert Cameron, Mertig, Angela G., and Dunlap, Riley E.. 1991. “Twenty Years of Environmental Mobilization: Trends among National Environmental Organizations.” Society and Natural Resources. Vol. 4: 219–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moe, Terry. 1987. “Interests, Institutions and Positive Theory: The Politics of the NLRB.” Studies in American Political Development. Vol. 2: Spring 236–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obach, Brian K. 2002. “Labor-Environmental Relations: An Analysis of the Relationship between Labor Unions and Environmentalists.” Social Science Quarterly. Vol. 83 No. 1: 82–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obach, Brian K. 2004. Labor and the Environmental Movement: The Quest for Common Ground. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogarzalek, Thomas. 2018. Cities on the Hill: How Urban Institutions Transform National Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Poole, Keith. 1988. “Recent Developments in Analytical Models of Voting in the U.S. Congress.” Legislative Studies Quarterly. Vol. 13 No.1: 117–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, Keith and Rosenthal, Howard. 2007. Ideology and Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting. Transaction Publishers: Piscataway.Google Scholar
Richardson, Elmo R. 1958. “Conservation as a Political Issue: The Western Progressives’ Political Dilemma, 1909–1912.” The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. Vol. 49 No.2: 49–54.Google Scholar
Schickler, Eric. 2016. Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932–1965. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Scherer, Nancy. 2005. Scoring Points: Politicians, Activists and the Lower Federal Court Appointment Process. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Schlozman, Daniel. 2015. When Movements Anchor Parties: Electoral Alignments in American History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Schrepfer, Susan R. 1992. “The Nuclear Crucible: Diablo Canyon and the Transformation of the Sierra Club.” California History. Vol. 71 No. 2: 212–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, James. 1999. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Shoch, James. 2001. Trading Blows: Party Competition and U.S. Trade Policy in a Globalizing Era. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Shor, Boris. 2015. “Polarization in American State Legislatures.” In Thurber, James and Yoshinaka, Antoine, eds., American Gridlock: The Sources, Character and Impact of Political Polarization.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, Richard. 2007. More Than Money: Interest Group Action in Congressional Elections. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda. 2013. “Naming The Problem: What It Will Take to Counter Extremism and Engage Americans in the Fight against Global Warming.” Prepared for the Symposium on The Politics of America’s Fight Against Global Warming Co-sponsored by the Columbia School of Journalism and the Scholars Strategy Network. February 14, 2013. Tsai Auditorium, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda and Hertel-Fernandez, Alexander. 2016. “The Koch Network and Republican Party Extremism.” Perspectives on Politics. Vol. 14 No.3: 681–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spiro, Jonathan Peter. 2008. Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics and the Legacy of Madison Grant. Lebanon, NH: University of Vermont Press.Google Scholar
Stokes, Leah C. and Warshaw, Christopher. 2017. “Renewable Energy Policy Design and Framing Influence Public Support in the United States.” Nature Energy 2 No. 8: 17107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sundquist, James L. 1983. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Swers, Michele. 2005. “Connecting Descriptive and Substantive Representation: An Analysis of Sex Differences in Cosponsorship Activity.” Legislative Studies Quarterly. Vol. 30 No. 3: 407–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomsen, Danielle M. 2017. Opting Out of Congress: Partisan Polarization and the Decline of Moderate Candidates. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, James Morton. 2009. “‘The Specter of Environmentalism’: Wilderness, Environmental Politics, and the Evolution of the New Right.” Journal of American History. Vol. 96 No. 1: 123–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, James Morton and Isenberg, Andrew. 2018. Republican Reversal: Conservatives and the Environment from Nixon to Trump. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Turner, Tom. 2015. David Brower: The Making of the Environmental Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, Richard L. Jr., 1963. “The Defeat of Judge Parker: A Study in Pressure Groups and Politics.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. Vol. 50 No. 2: 213–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wellock, Thomas. 1992. “The Battle for Bodega Bay: The Sierra Club and Nuclear Power, 1958–1964.” California History. Vol. 71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wellock, Thomas Raymond. 1996. Critical Masses: Opposition to Nuclear Power in California: 1958–1978. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Wildavsky, Aaron. 1962. Dixon-Yates: A Study in Power Politics. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Wohlforth, Charles. 2010. The Fate of Nature: Rediscovering our Ability to Save the Earth. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Wolbrecht, Christina. 2000. The Politics of Women’s Rights: Parties, Position and Change. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Zaller, John R. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this element is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.
- 42
- Cited by