Green groups target Trump voters in swing states.
Green groups are seeking to convince Trump voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and other states to split from the president over his stewardship of the environment.
They point to President Trump’s proposed cuts to programs that would clean up the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay and their watersheds, arguing the White House’s policies will hurt the voters who helped him topple Hillary Clinton.
They support having clean air and clean water … you can’t do that in a budget that cuts the Great Lakes program.
Adrian Gray, a Republican strategist and consultant, said that could be a good way to sway Republican voters.
“Democrats generally do environmental issues on a more global scale,” Gray said.
“The budget returns the responsibility for funding local environmental efforts and programs to state and local entities, allowing EPA to focus on its highest national priorities,” officials wrote in the budget outline.
But environmental groups think the deep budget cut proposals, even if they are unlikely to be realized, will hurt the Trump agenda.
The cuts already have been condemned by some Republican lawmakers in the affected states.
A Gallup poll last month found that 63 percent of Americans are concerned “a great deal” about drinking water pollution, while 57 percent are concerned about pollution in lakes, rivers and reservoirs.