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Launch of "Vote Environment" advertising designed to make environment a top-tier issue in 2000 elections
With Earth Day tie to jump start effort, conservation group dedicates $700,000 to raise environmental issues with candidates and voters in Georgia ATLANTA - With Earth Day approaching this Saturday, conservationist predict that voters will make the environment a top-tier voting issue in the 2000 elections. To make that claim a reality, the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (LCVEF) today announces a $7.4 million national advertising, polling and grassroots public education effort designed to encourage candidates to address environmental issues and voters to find out where the candidates stand on such issues. LCVEF will be spending $700,000 to promote the "Vote Environment" concept in the Atlanta, Ga. media market. Television ads were launched this week in Washington, D.C., Austin, Texas, Nashville, Tenn. Today, the ads will start airing in Atlanta and run through May 29, 2000 to highlight threats from polluted air and water and inform viewers that "Who We Elect Matters," urging them to "Vote Environment." Through early summer, the ads will also air on select cable stations in the following cities: Seattle, Wash., Columbus, Ohio, Lansing, Mich., Billings, Mont., Sacramento, Calif., and Minneapolis, Minn. "Throughout the country, voters are paying more attention to issues that directly affect the quality of their lives, from the safety of the water they drink and the quality of the air they breathe, to suburban sprawl that is eating away at green space and increasing traffic congestion," said Deb Callahan, president of the LCVEF. "This is the year when the environment will emerge as a critical election issue-an issue that candidates seeking all levels of elective office will be well-served to address." As a key component of the public education effort, the LCVEF also launched a www.VoteEnvironment.org Web site that houses the television ads and encourages visitors to take an on-line pledge to ask the candidates where they stand on environmental issues and to "Vote Environment." The Web site also contains the group's extensive environmental polling data. Over the course of the year, the LCVEF is evaluating the saliency of environmental issues and how they influence voter participation. Working with state environmental groups and a variety of pollsters, the group this year will conduct 22 state and three national polls on environmental and conservation issues and their relationship to civic participation. The polling analysis, surveys and commentary will be available over the Internet. Al Quinlan, president of Greenberg Quinlan Research Inc., conducted the first national poll. About the findings Quinlan said, "Political candidates, regardless of political party, can benefit by including environmental issues in their campaigns. Not only do environmental issues, especially clean air and water, appeal directly to the quality of life and health concerns of voters, but candidates who embrace these issues are viewed in a significantly more positive light by voters." Terrilyn Bayne, LCVEF Georgia Director, added, "The environment is an issue that resonates with Georgia voters and should factor into their decisions when choosing candidates all up and down the ballot, from county commissioner and state house to the White House. We are encouraging voters to find out where their candidates stand on environmental issues and so they can judge for themselves whether a candidate will work to clean up our rivers and our air." The League of Conservation Voters Education Fund is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to raising awareness about environmental issues, increasing the capacity and effectiveness of state and local environmental groups, and encouraging citizens to participate in the democratic process. For more information, please visit the LCV Education Fund Web site at www.lcvef.org. National Office © 2000-2023, www.VoteEnvironment.org |