Inslee leads all candidates on climate change in new ranking
May 31, 2019, 11:12 AM
Gov. Inslee has long made climate change the banner issue of his presidential campaign. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Gov. Jay Inslee recently received the top grade on climate change from Greenpeace among every 2020 presidential candidate.
Inslee polling behind ‘someone else’ but raises $2.25 million
Inslee received an A- grade from the environmental organization for his climate change agenda, followed by B+ grades for Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker, and B’s for Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren.
Early Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden earned a D- for his climate change plan, while President Donald Trump ranked in dead last with an F.
Greenpeace weighed a pair of factors in its rankings: Support for the Green New Deal, and ridding the U.S. of its dependence on fossil fuels. Out of 50 total possible points, Gov. Inslee earned 44/50 for the Green New Deal, and 36/50 on use of fossil fuels. Sanders beat out Inslee on fossil fuels at 40/50, but ultimately fell to second place by earning 37.5/50 on the Green New Deal requirement.
Inslee has long made climate change the banner issue for his campaign, even earning praise from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
.@JayInslee’s climate plan is the most serious + comprehensive one to address our crisis in the 2020 field.
It meets key marks:
✅ Big enough
✅ Fast enough
✅ Economically stimulating for working people
✅ Acknowledges injustice + w/ an eye to make communities whole https://t.co/C7nyEsdUxk— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 18, 2019
The Washington governor testified on climate change in front of Congress back in April, where he addressed a number of questions on how climate change is affecting Washington state, what’s being done to combat it, and what the federal government can do to assist.
“When you go into Wenatchee, Washington, see a couple crying in front of their house because it was torched, and a man holding his wife … climate change is not an abstraction to governors — we see it when we go to these emergencies,” Inslee said in his testimony.
He also recently earned a place on the Democratic debate stage, after reaching the required threshold of 65,000 individual donors, 200 of whom needed to be from 20 different states. The alternative requirement was garner 1 percent support or greater in three national polls, a requirement he’s struggled with early on in his campaign.
Inslee gathers enough donations to qualify for Democratic debates
Despite his poor polling numbers, Gov. Inslee’s fundraising efforts have proven successful in the early months of his run at the White House. In mid-April, he revealed that his campaign had raised over $2.25 million in a month-and-a-half, 95 percent of which came from individual donations under $100 each.
Inslee’s campaign credited his climate change agenda as the driving force behind that.
“The governor started rolling out his climate plan a few weeks ago and since then we’ve seen a huge uptick in support,” campaign manager Aisling Kerins told Politico. “I think there really seems to be a direct correlation about someone having a real roadmap about how to defeat climate change and the support that he’s receiving.”
