A 2020 CBS/YouGov survey found that a slight majority of Pennsylvanians actually oppose fracking, with 52 percent of voters opposed and 48 percent in favor. Another 2020 poll, this one by Franklin & Marshall College, reported that 48 percent of registered Pennsylvania voters supported a ban on fracking, while only 39 percent opposed such a ban. And in a 2021 poll by the Ohio River Valley Institute, a sustainability-focused think tank, less than a third of Pennsylvanians said they supported continued fracking in the state.
Popular support for fracking has declined in Pennsylvania as understanding of its adverse effects has grown. A review of more than 2,500 scientific, medical, government and media reports — many of which focused on Pennsylvania — found that fracking is linked to numerous health problems, including cancer, asthma and congenital anomalies. The evidence is staggering, but here are some particularly egregious examples: An August 2023 report by the University of Pittsburgh determined that children living within a mile of a natural gas fracking well were seven times more likely to contract lymphoma, a rare form of childhood cancer. Another study found that children within a mile of a fracking well were also more likely to develop juvenile leukemia.
I hate that the Harris campaign seems to feel the need to appeal to the “center” to win the election, but maybe they have internal polling that suggests that’s the right way to go.
All I can do is hope she “flip-flops” back to her original, more progressive views if she gets elected.
It’s not about the center. It’s the money.
Looks like a neoliberal copy of what happened in the UK elections recently where labour did the same tactics without promising big changes where it actually matters so they won not because people wanted them but because people didn’t want the opposition to win. Now they’re struggling with public reception because they forgot their main voter base.