When Do Environmental Externalities Have Electoral Consequences? Evidence from Fracking

This study measures the role of environmental issues in concurrent elections for governors and specialized energy regulators in two energy-producing US states. Campaign news coverage reveals much more attention to environment and energy in the energy regulator races, even though both offices have influence over these issues. I then use geologic variation in fracking-related earthquakes to measure the electoral consequences of a costly environmental externality. Incumbent vote share decreases and turnout increases for the energy regulator, while there are no measurable effects for governor. These outcomes are consistent with theories of issue bundling, in which the electoral salience of some topics is diminished when one politician has authority over many issues.