Norwegian Trump supporters greener than their reputation

Donald TrumpRepublican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a campaign event in Pensecola, Florida U.S. November 2, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Presidential candidate Donald Trump thinks that global warming is a conspiracy and want to dispose the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Nevertheless, Norwegian Trump supporters are consistently quite conscious on environmental issues and also diligent recyclers, a new study shows.

72 percent of Norwegians who stand with Trump on the campaign trail say they source dispose most of their waste, compared with 76 percent of Hillary Clinton’s Norwegian trailers. It comes from a nationwide survey YouGov has done for Green Dot Norway.

– The result of our little informal survey shows that most people in Norway are keen on recycling and what they can do for the environment, regardless of how they look at perhaps the most polarized US election campaign in modern times. I think that’s very encouraging, says Jaana Røine, CEO of Green Dot Norway.

Source disposal for all

Arild Hermstad, head of the Future in our hands, says the responses to the survey indicate that environmental awareness does not act so much about the left-right axis in politics.

– That the Norwegian Trump supporters are equally adept as others to recycle shows that this is an environmental action that has become a standard. People often make it as environmentally friendly, regardless of political views, when conditions are right for it, says Hermstad.

10% would vote for Trump

In the survey carried out last week (week 43) corresponds to 10 percent of respondents in the nationwide committee that they would vote for the Republican candidate Donald Trump if they were voting at this year’s presidential election in the United States. 75 percent would vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Jan Arild Snoen, commentator in the liberal conservative journal Minerva, points out that much of Trump support in Norway is to be found among those who usually are not particularly concerned with environmental protection. He is therefore a little surprised by the survey findings.

– I had perhaps thought that the differences were larger, but this probably reflects that what primarily characterizes Trump fans in Norway is that they are very concerned about immigration and Muslims. What Trump thinks about environmental matters little to them, says Snoen.

Think they are greener than the average

The investigation shows that both Clinton and Trump camp in Norway are many who believe that they are more environmentally conscious than a hypothetical average Norwegian. 28 percent of Trump supporters and 40 percent of Clinton’s supporters express this. Further 44 percent of Trump supporters and 46 percent of Clinton supporters think they are approximately on average.

The Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has in his campaign repeatedly declared that he believes global warming is a Chinese conspiracy against American business. He has also taken the word in order to dispose the federal environmental protection agency EPA and abolish a large number of laws and regulations relating to clean air and clean water.

– It is far more common in the US than in Norway to believe that climate change is man-made, and especially this is so among Trumps voters. Views on recycling are not necessarily the same, but it is reasonable to believe that his American voters are not particularly “green”, says Snoen.

 

Source: Grønt Punkt Norge AS / Norway Today