Politics

GOP voters back Crist on environment

Party leaders say this could help in 2008.

By JUSTIN GEORGE, Times Staff Writer
Published August 9, 2007

TAMPA - Republican voters don't view global warming as a major threat to Florida, but that doesn't stop them from supporting Gov. Charlie Crist's environmental initiatives almost as strongly as Democrats or independents, a poll released Wednesday showed.

The results, which show overwhelming support of Crist's environmental policies, spurred local Republican leaders to urge more members to align themselves with Crist's environmental message, which they said could help them before the 2008 presidential election.

Environmental Defense, a New York nonprofit group that works with corporations to bring about environmental reform, funded the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research poll. An all-Republican cast of St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash and political strategist Tucker Eskew heralded the poll results at a Tampa news conference Wednesday.

They seized upon the popularity of Crist's initiatives and used the momentum to promote their party. Eskew, a former assistant to President Bush, even took swipes at former Vice President Al Gore, calling his environmental campaign "apocalyptic" while saying Republicans had solutions, not "doom and gloom."

Refer to environmental issues as economic, national and energy security issues, he said, and "Republicans can win on it."

Democratic Party officials said global warming was a serious, pressing issue that voters want reversed, not politicized.

"While we're glad that some Republicans are coming around, there's absolutely no denying that Democrats have led the way on addressing the dangers of climate change -- and we never needed a poll to tell us the obvious," state Democrat Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said in a statement.

Last month, Crist signed executive orders setting limits on greenhouse gas emissions, mandating strict emissions limits for cars sold in Florida, requiring energy-efficient construction and forcing utilities to generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources.

"He's reclaiming the mantle of the Teddy Roosevelt Republican," said Gerald Karnas of the Environmental Defense, referring to the president who created the National Park Service.

Most of Crist's initiatives drew strong support from both parties and independents, the poll showed. But Republicans were far less likely than Democrats and independents to see global warming as a greater threat to Florida than other states. Parties also split on whether fighting global warming was worth the economic cost and whether "global climate change" was as important as Crist said it was.

"It's not news that Republicans lag behind Democrats and independents on this subject," Eskew said. But, he said, it was news that Crist's initiatives bridged much of that gap.

"It represents a turning point in our state," said Manatee County's McClash, who serves on the Tampa Bay National Estuary Program.

Justin George can be reached at 813 226-3368 or jgeorge@sptimes.com

FAST FACTS: Poll highlights

• 82 percent support reducing emissions of pollutants to year 2000 levels within the next 10 years.
• 71 percent support capping emissions from major greenhouse gas sources such as utility plants.
• 86 percent support requiring new cars sold in the state to be more fuel efficient.
• 87 percent said the issue of global warming isn't a Republican or Democrat issue.

To view the Florida Global Warming Survey go to:state.tampabay.com

[Last modified August 9, 2007, 03:52:29]