Inspired by today’s somewhat nauseating Republican presidential debate, which I was for some reason drawn to, I thought it might make sense to spend some time looking at the environmental stands of the top presidential candidates. Although I am a Democrat, I thought I would give the Republicans a fair shake, and I included the top three from both parties. (as measured by Pollingreport.com)
I figured that since the web is so important now, their webpages would tell alot about what they think is important. Soooo…. I went to each candidates website, and looked at the issues they had listed. I’ve compiled the key points in the following Google Spreadsheet. (full sheet)
I noticed a few things. First of all, the Republicans are not really paying attention to the issue. Guiliani and Romney have basically nothing at all about the environment or global warming, and Guiliani doesn’t even mention energy! McCain does mention global warming but is short on specifics. Advantage: McCain I guess. He wins by default, despite the fact that he offers no specifics.
Naturally, the Democrats are better. Edwards has a very long and detailed set of proposals and ideas. However both Hillary and Obama have some deficiencies. Obama’s entire proposal is centered around transportation. On the other hand, Hillary has very few details on her page. Advantage: Edwards. He’s got the most detailed proposals, and covers all the bases.
Of course, it’s still early, and using their webpages to judge who would be a better president for dear Mother Earth may not be the best methodology. However, there’s no doubt that there’s a significant difference between Dems and Republicans on how seriously they take global warming. Take a look and let me know what you think!
Nice chart! It’s unfortunate you were unable to find much information from the republicans. I’m sure they have their stances, and I’m sure most of the Republican candidates are taking the environmental problems we have seriously -but we’re just not seeing them - which is not good as it’s a major issue right now. I haven’t been really impressed with any of the candidates this year. I kind of feel like we’ll be voting for the lesser of the evils…. After checking out websites on some of the candidates, I’m convinced that each candidate’s committee has missed some major issues on the sites. It leads me to not really have confidence in any of the choices.
Anyway, I’m rambling.
Hi, Bad Penny!
Yeah, it’s too bad that the Republicans don’t have more information on their websites (which is where I got this info) but it’s still informative. They put information on their sites that they want people to know. And I believe that an omission does mean something.
-Paul