Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley declined to answer three questions on Thursday to say if he accepts the scientific consensus on man-made climate change.
“It doesn’t really matter. It’s happening,” Foley, a Republican, said in a debate. “So we have to find solutions.”
Foley was asked the same question again in a press gaggle and again declined to answer, saying, “From a policy point of view it really doesn’t matter.”
He was pressed a third time on whether or not he agrees with “what 90-plus percent of scientists believe” that human activities contribute to climate change.
“Listen, I’m not an expert on global warming. So I haven’t had a chance to read all the reports,” Foley said.
Foley isn’t the only Republican in the 2014 races who has had difficulty with the question. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) and Florida Gov. Rick Scott have ducked the question, each saying he is “not a scientist.”
Polls say conservatives widely doubt the consensus among 97 to 98 percent of climate scientists that human activities like burning fossil fuels affect climate change.
Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy (D) was more direct during the debate: “Of course it matters. And yes, we have a warming climate. And yes, it has to do with the particulate in the air. And yes, the ozone layer is shrinking,” he said, noting that environmental groups have endorsed him. “To deny that is to deny reality.”
Malloy leads Foley by a narrow 2.7 percentage points, according to the TPM PollTracker Average.
