Ohio Governor John Kasich, appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, appeared to soften his stance on climate change, saying “we don’t want to destroy people’s jobs on some theory that’s not proven.”
“I think that man absolutely affects the environment,” Kasich said in response to moderator Chuck Todd’s question whether the governor agrees with Pope Francis that climate change is manmade. “As to… the overall impact, I think that’s a legitimate debate.”
Later in the day, the Kasich campaign issued a clarifying statement, which read: “The governor has long believed climate change is real and we need to do something about it. The debate over exact percentages of why it is happening is less important than what can be done about it. We know it is real, we know man has an impact, and we know we need to do something.”