Some post-election analysis by The Bitterroot Newsletter on the complicated relationship between Western voter’s environmental concerns and how they voted in some key races.
Conservation and the environment are critical issues for Western voters. According to the latest poll from Colorado College’s State of the Rockies Project, a candidate’s environmental positions are important to 80 percent of voters in the eight Rocky Mountain states, and 60 percent are in favor of action to slow or mitigate the effects of climate change. With Biden winning all but five Western states, it would seem voters, indeed, opted for environmental action in 2020. But a closer look at some key races in the region shows that our relationship with the environment grows complicated when it’s time to fill out a ballot.
