Vice President Mike Pence is a loyal foot soldier in the Trump administration's war against climate science, drawing upon his deeply conservative religious views; his established connections to the fossil fuel industry; and a political career built in Indiana, a Republican stronghold.
But does the former Indiana governor still reflect the climate change views of his fellow Hoosiers, much less the rest of the U.S. electorate?
It largely depends on their political affiliation, experts say.
In two recent statewide polls, researchers found that climate change is becoming more widely accepted among Indianans of both parties, even as disagreement over the causes and consequences of climate warming remain stark.
"In general, we find that strong partisan disagreements continue to characterize Hoosiers' perceptions, explanations, and plans for the climate-driven challenges that scientists tell us are already here," researchers with Indiana University's Environmental Resilience Institute found in a statewide survey of more than 2,700 Indiana residents.
For example, 84% of Republicans deny that humans are the primary cause of that change, while 58% of Democrats believe human-produced greenhouse gas emissions are to blame, according to "The Hoosier Life Survey," conducted between August and December 2019.
