Hispanic advocacy group calls for Harris to press clean-energy message with Latinos

A Latino-centric environmental advocacy group is calling on Vice President Harris’s campaign to expand its clean energy economy messaging to reach young Latino men, a group that’s proven elusive for the Democratic presidential nominee.

According to a poll commissioned by Climate Power en Acción, proposals to increase clean energy production resonate more among Latinos than among Latinas.

The poll, conducted by Democratic pollster BSP Research, found that 72 percent of Latino respondents ages 30 to 49 view such a policy favorably, as do 70 percent of Latinos ages 18 to 29. Among all male respondents, only 65 percent said they favored clean energy proposals, suggesting older Latinos are not as interested in the issue.

Latinas in those age groups are less impressed with clean energy proposals: 65 percent of Latina respondents ages 30 to 49 responded favorably, as did 63 percent of Latinas 18 to 29.

Overall, clean energy economy proposals were viewed favorably by 63 percent of respondents.

The poll was conducted among 900 Hispanic registered voters in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona, reporting an overall margin of error of plus minus 2.8 percentage points.

In a BSP memo obtained by The Hill, the researchers note that the Biden administration’s signature green energy bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), “as a name brand does not have a widespread recall among Latinos and has room for growth in awareness; however, increasing clean energy production in the US gets very high marks.”

Outreach to young Latinos has consistently dogged the Harris campaign, while the vice president has consistently received high marks from Latinas.

Abortion has been a top winning issue for Harris among Latinas, with polls consistently showing a wide gender gap in Hispanic support for Harris.

But the intersection between clean energy and the economy, the perennial top issue for Latinos, is still untapped.

According to the Climate Power poll, 38 percent of respondents said they have not heard much about Harris’s clean energy plan, and 50 percent said the same about former President Trump’s policy proposals.

Only 18 percent of respondents said they felt informed about Harris’s plan, and 17 percent said the same of Trump’s.