Poll: 59 Percent Oppose Leaving Paris Climate Agreement

A poll released on June 5 found 59 percent of Americans oppose President Donald Trump’s move to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The Washington Post-ABC News survey, taken from June 2-4, found only 28 percent of citizens support the decision.

The study found that the Republican minority of those who opposed Trump’s action was larger than the Democrat minority of people who supported the decision.

The partisan divide was nonetheless pronounced, with 67 percent of Republicans in support of Trump’s move to leave the Paris Agreement, while 82 percent of Democrats opposed the decision.

Republicans’ disfavor of the Paris Agreement is not new, as 22 GOP senators submitted a letter to Trump on May 25, attempting to persuade the president to abandon the pact.

“It is clear that those advocating for greenhouse gas regulations will use the Paris Agreement as a legal defense against your actions to rescind the Clean Power Plan if you decide to remain in the Paris Agreement,” read the letter by the 22 senators, including Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, according to The Daily Caller.

The day before, 10 Republican state attorneys general submitted a letter to Donald Trump, advocating for leaving the Paris Agreement.

“Advocates of the Clean Power Plan could argue that the United States’ continued commitment to the Paris Agreement makes any effort to revise or rescind the Clean Power Plan arbitrary and capricious,” read the letter by the attorneys general, including West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey.

“Again, while we do not believe this argument has any merit, it is nevertheless an unnecessary risk of remaining in the Paris Agreement,” continued the letter from the attorneys general.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on May 31 wrote an opinion piece for CNN explaining his view of the economic impact of staying in the Paris Agreement, including a reduction of $3 trillion of GDP.

The senator also said the pact would afford other countries the chance to increase their emissions, while the U.S. would be made to decrease its own.

Despite some Republicans saying the Paris Agreement would hurt the U.S. economy, some business leaders and analysts disagree with Trump’s withdrawal.

“Even if you don’t like the accord’s implications, it has very few teeth,” said Eli Lehrer, president of the right-leaning energy think tank R Street Institute, according to Los Angeles Times. “I don’t know of a single Fortune 500 fossil fuel company that is pushing for withdrawal.”

Others in the energy industry disparaged the commander in chief’s decision, saying he lacks an understanding of the agreement.

“This is so typical of what is happening on so many issues with this White House,” said an energy industry representative opposed to withdrawing.

“They picked an extreme point of view and spoke a lot about it. I’m not sure how much those people writing the speeches and talking points really knew about it.”

Sources: The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Caller, CNN / Photo credit: Luca Temporelli/Flickr