From Iceland — Most Voters For All Icelandic Parties (Except One) Very Worried About The Climate Crisis

Most Voters For All Icelandic Parties (Except One) Very Worried About The Climate Crisis

Published June 26, 2019

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
Art Bicnick

The climate crisis is deeply troubling to voters of all parliamentary parties, with one notable exception, according to a new poll from Market and Media Research.

According to the results, in all only 68% of Icelanders say they are either very worried or somewhat worried about the climate crisis, while 11% said they had little to no concerns, and 21% were ambivalent on the subject. As always, the demographic breakdown paints a more detailed picture.

Icelandic women are more worried about the climate crisis (76%) than men (60%); those aged 18 to 29 are the most concerned about it overall (77%), with those 68 and older following close behind (70%); and those living in the greater Reykjavík area are more worried about the climate crisis (72%) than those who live in the countryside (61%).

These demographic averages do not account for income level, and when broken down by party affiliation show even wider disparities.

Voters for the Social Democrats are almost unanimous in their concern about the climate crisis (96%), surpassing even the decidedly environmentally-minded Left-Greens voters (89%). In fact, the majority of voters for every party in Parliament is worried about the climate crisis, except one: Centre Party voters, of whom only 39% said they were either very worried or somewhat worried about it.

That final data point is perhaps unsurprising, in light of the fact that Centre Party MP Birgir Þórarinsson has gone on record saying that he believes “climate skepticism”—also known as climate change denial—should be taught in primary schools.

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