Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer is spending big bucks to influence the 2016 election, and he is banking on millennials — who make up a growing share of the electorate and tend to be passionate about climate change — to provide a return on his investment.
The billionaire announced Monday that his super PAC will spend $25 million to turn out young voters in battleground states this year.
His super PAC NextGen Climate Action has not endorsed a particular presidential candidate, but advocates for Democrats who will “take bold action on climate change.”
This isn’t the first time Steyer has tried to influence elections. NextGen spent over $70 million on a media campaign to influence the 2014 midterm races — an effort which was largely unsuccessful.
This time, Steyer and his group will focus their efforts on in-person and online organizing, instead of just relying on ads. The plan is to register and mobilize voters on 200 college campuses in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Nevada, Illinois and Colorado — swing states that will be crucial in the presidential election and important for Democrats to win to take over the Senate.
Data cited by NextGen showed 80 percent of millennials support transitioning to mostly clean or renewable energy by 2030. This includes 49 percent who “strongly agree,” and 31 percent who “somewhat agree.”
Unfortunately for climate activists, young voters are also the least likely to show up to the polls on Election Day, which is why Steyer and his team will need to focus on getting them registered and keeping them engaged on the issue.
American Energy Alliance spokesman Chris Warren said young people are likely to see through Steyer’s strategy.
“It’s important to look past the PR spin from groups like NextGen and look at what they’re actually advocating for, which is a system of regulations, mandates, and subsides that will make energy more expensive and limit job opportunities,” Warren said. “These policies have a particularly harsh impact on younger folks who may be looking for their first job out of college or who are trying to pay off their student loans. I think when people realize what the endgame is here, they’re less likely to support the environmental lobby’s agenda.”
What’s more, if we have learned anything from young voters in this election cycle, we know they hate the idea of “big money” in politics — demonstrated by their overwhelming support for Bernie Sanders and his ideas about breaking up the big banks and campaign finance reform, their distaste for Hillary Clinton and her ties to Wall Street, and their growing refusal to identify with either political party.
Steyer is the epitome of special interest money funding a political agenda. He is the top super PAC donor of 2016 so far, and he told the Washington Post that he planned to spend even more this cycle than he did in 2014.
