Donald Trump has been back-and-forth on many important issues. His recent reversal of his position on torture is just one example of his tendency to flip-flop on issues.

No one expected Trump to alter his stance on global warming. The Republican frontrunner has emphatically denied that global warming exists in any capacity, calling it “bullshit,” “a hoax,” and “a concept… created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

Trump has taken some flak for this. Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders mocked him in one of his speeches, sarcastically calling the Republican frontrunner “a world-renowned scientist” in response to his denial of climate change. In addition, The scientific community is almost unanimous in their acceptance of global warming, with 97% of climate scientists agreeing it exists.

Trump is now backing away from his previous statements. At a December 30 rally in South Carolina, he shifted from a position of absolute denial to one of vague uncertainty. “A lot of it is a hoax,” Trump said. “I mean, it’s a money-making industry, OK? It’s a hoax, a lot of it.” While the statement still implies a general distrust of the idea, his language displays a significant shift in opinion. Calling “a lot of it” a hoax is a major step back from years of absolute denial.

Voters are skeptical of this shift. Some, like TCNJ senior Emily Lane, have ceased to put faith in anything that comes out of the businessman’s mouth. “It proves that he’s a candidate who shifts his position based on what he thinks voters want to hear,” Lane said. “He thrives off of the uneducated.”

TCNJ senior Caitlin Donohue had a similar reaction. “It doesn’t affect my opinion because I was not voting for him before he stated his firm denial of global warming,” Donohue states. “There are many policies that he wants to enforce that I do not believe in at all.”

As Trump ties up his party’s nomination, Clinton is doing the same in the Democratic primary. Recent polls show Clinton handily defeating Trump in the general election. Much of this lies in the preferences of independent voters.
While Trump has found an enthusiastic voter base in the Republican party, he is incredibly unpopular with the independent voters who decide elections, and he knows it.

There are a whole host of reasons undecided voters might not side with Trump. The condoning of violence at his rallies, his plan to build a wall on the Mexican border, and his insensitive comments on race have turned many undecided voters against him. His changes of opinion on issues like global warming and torture may be the first rumblings of an avalanche of policy shifts as he attempts to make his platform more palatable to general election voters.