The question put to the eight Republican candidates on the debate stage in Milwaukee Wednesday night was simple: Raise your hand if you believe human behavior is causing climate change.

But the answer to

Milwaukee’s Republican Debate Stage

transferred quickly when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis interrupted moderator Martha MacCallum.

“We are not school children. Let’s have a debate,” he said, before launching an attack on President Biden’s disaster response.

Then Vivek Ramaswamy interjected: “I am the only one on this stage who is not bought and paid for, so I can say that the climate change agenda is a hoax,” he said. His answer was swallowed up by the cheers of the crowd.

Never Back Down, a political action committee that supports DeSantis, posted a video It appears on Wednesday evening that Ramaswamy has acknowledged climate change in previous interviews.

“I am not denying the underlying reality that global surface temperatures are rising, and that is partly due to human activity,” he said in the video.

The changing climate and human’s role in accelerating global warming is a widely accepted truth among climate scientists, and indeed among a majority of Americans.

But it turns out to be divisive along party lines. Most Democrats and independents agree that climate change is a major threat, but 70% of Republicans say it is a minor threat or no threat at all, according to a poll conducted earlier this month by NPR, “PBS News Hour” and Marist . Another Pew poll says much the same thing.

On the stage of the Republican debate, only one candidate raised his hand: the governor of Arkansas. Asa Hutchinson. And even he lowered it quickly when DeSantis started talking. Hutchinson

Governor of Arkansas

was not given a chance to speak on the question, as the conversation further spiraled into an argument between Ramaswamy and the New Jersey governor. Chris Christie.

After a few minutes of sparring between the candidates,

former

Gov. of South Carolina Nikki Haley responded with the first affirmative vote: “First of all: yes. Is climate change real? Yes, it is,” she said, before attacking China and India for their emissions.

The question came from Alexander Diaz, a student at Catholic University and a member of the conservative organization

,

Young America Foundation. In a post-debate interview, Diaz, 21, said he was “disappointed” by Ramaswamy’s response, but hoped to hear more from candidates on environmental and energy issues.

A native Arizonan, Diaz said he has always been concerned about protecting the environment and natural resources.

“You ask any American … they don’t deny that it’s warmer than before. The wildfires are worse, and we can debate specifically what caused them,” Diaz said. “I think a lot of young people are looking for leaders who are willing to go the extra mile and use all the resources that America has, our bountiful land, wind, solar and nuclear power, and use it all to make ourselves the make number 1.

number one

leader in energy production anywhere.”

A poll conducted by the progressive group Navigator Research showed support dropped in response to Ramaswamy’s statement. the

real time

A poll was conducted among 33 independents and “soft partisans,” said Ian Smith.

Navigator

director of polling and analysis. “When Nikki Haley came out and said climate change was real, our numbers were much more positive.”