The Support Scale Background
Execute the Plan: Use what you learned about our Theory of Change (Training 4) and your Advocacy Detective insights (Training 5) to build long-term, trust-based engagement that helps move your Member of Congress step-by-step from opposition, if needed, toward climate leadership.
⚠️ Important Note on Use: The Scale of Support is an internal tool designed for use within your local CCL lobby team and should not be shared externally. Because assessments on the scale are inherently subjective and context-specific, CCL National does not collect or compile these scores. This approach is most effective when used with care, trust, and a shared understanding of its confidential nature.
Purpose of the Support Scale
The Support Scale provides a practical, strategic way for volunteers to understand their Member of Congress’s current stance on a climate policy and to identify the specific relationship-building actions that can move them toward stronger support. It turns abstract political dynamics into a clear pathway for progress.
This training's framework is inspired by the Champion Scale developed by early CCL advisor and RESULTS founder Sam Daley-Harris, whose work emphasizes meeting decision-makers where they are and helping them move forward one step at a time.
Using the Scale Across Policies
It’s important to remember that the Support Scale is best used to assess a Member’s stance on a specific policy, not as a fixed label for where they stand on climate overall.
A Member may be at very different points on the scale depending on the issue—supportive of one solution while opposed or uncertain about another, even when those policies seem closely related.These differences don’t always come down to their views on climate change itself; they often reflect how the policy intersects with other priorities, values, or political considerations.
Using the scale in this policy-specific way helps us stay curious, avoid overgeneralizing, and identify the most effective next step for each issue. Movement along the scale—especially in more challenging political environments—is often incremental and meaningful. Helping a Member shift from a –3 to a –1 is real progress and reflects the trust you are building over time.
The Support Scale Levels
The scale ranges from +3 to –3:
The goal is not to jump a Member from –3 to +3. The goal is one step at a time, through consistent relationship-building aligned with our Theory of Change.
Relationship to Trainings 4 and 5
Connection to Training 4: Theory of Change
You now understand the three internal conditions a Member of Congress needs before taking climate action:
Undeniable Support
“This clearly matters to my constituents, and they support action on this.”
Strong Conviction
““This is a good thing to do for my district/state.”
Political Safety
“This won’t harm me politically.”
The Support Scale is how we operationalize those conditions. Each step up the scale is evidence that the lawmaker is witnessing undeniable support, strong conviction, and political safety.
Connection to Training 5: The Advocacy Detective
In the previous training, you practiced gathering clues about:
- Who influences your Member
- What messages matter in your district
- What risks they perceive
- What would make climate action feel politically safe
That detective work becomes the input for your Support Scale strategy. It tells you:
- Where your Member is now
- What condition (📣 Undeniable Support 🔧 Strong Conviction 🛡️ Political Safety) is weakest
- What next step is realistic
- Which tailored actions and messengers will matter most
Understanding Each Level and How Volunteers Make Progress
Actively Opposed and Working Against the Policy
Your Member of Congress is vocally opposed, actively organizing resistance, or leading efforts to block the policy.
Volunteer Focus: Your goal is not to convert the Member, but to begin building relational safety and reduce perceived political risks. Preserve the relationship, demonstrate respect and understanding of their position while remaining clear in ours, and find something you can connect on.
Actions:
- Note: Listen first and use your Advocacy Detective insights to avoid triggering partisan identity.
- Seek opportunities for low-stakes relational engagement, not policy wins.
- 📣 Undeniable Support
- Highlight evidence of support for solution in locally relevant, non-ideological terms.
- 🔧 Strong Conviction Focus on gratitude, respect, and nonpartisan relationship-building.
- 🛡️ Political SafetyIdentify trusted messengers who they respect, even if not climate-focused.
🟢 A shift from –3 to –2 is an important success.
Opposed but Not Taking Counteraction
Your Member does not support the policy but is not actively fighting it.
Volunteer Focus: Help increase their curiosity and soften opposition.
Actions:
- Personalize importance by bringing in local voices aligned with their values.
- Use district-specific data (Advocacy Detective homework).
- Highlight benefits rather than risks.
- Provide non-threatening opportunities to learn—briefings, site visits, community conversations.
- Reinforce that listening is safe and appreciated.
🟢 The near-term goal is to bring them to –1 and not being publicly opposed.
Somewhat Opposed but Not Publicly
Your Member leans toward opposition, but has not taken a firm public stance.
Volunteer Focus: Build a foundation of factual clarity and relational safety—helping their Elephant feel respected and not threatened, while giving their Rider clear, credible information to consider.
Actions:
- Provide simple, concise policy explanations.
- Make sure you understand all of the sticking points about what is preventing the member from being able to provide more support.
- Frame the policy through what makes it feasible and safe in their district.
- Demonstrate alignment with their priorities (economic, community, values-based).
- Invite conversations rather than pushing commitments.
- Determine what has influenced their opinion so far and who they have talked to about the policy.
All of these initial levels benefit from the simple but high-impact question: “What could we be doing more of at home to make it easier for my MOC to support this legislation?”
Neutral, Undecided, or Uninformed
Your Member is not committed or unfamiliar with the policy.
Volunteer Focus: Increase public support and personal conviction to build positive momentum.
Actions:
- Use trusted messengers from their district (small business, agriculture, faith leaders).
- Provide district-specific benefits framed around their known priorities.
- Ask open-ended questions to identify remaining concerns.
- Continue gratitude-based relationship-building to strengthen political safety.
🟢 A realistic next step is Level 1, private but not yet public support.
Somewhat Supportive but Not Publicly
Your Member personally supports aspects of the policy but is not ready to take public action.
Volunteer Focus: Strengthen political safety and support internal permission structures.
Actions:
- Identify pressures or concerns making public support risky.
- Bring in diverse local voices to meet the MOC reflecting their constituency.
- Share examples of endorsements most relevant to the MOC.
- Make clear that even private support is valued and noticed. Lack of opposition is valued and noticed too.
- Collaborate to start finding ways they would feel comfortable with to support the action in public (attending a briefing, expressing curiosity in a town hall on the topic).
🟢 A step up is Level 2, where they take public action.
Supportive and Willing to Act Publicly
Your Member is ready to cosponsor, vote for, or publicly endorse the policy.
Volunteer Focus: Celebrate, reinforce, and expand their leadership.
Actions:
- Publicly thank them across multiple local channels (if it helps build 📣 Undeniable Support or 🛡️ Political Safety for the member)
- Help them see the public benefit and political value of their stance (🛡️ Political Safety)
- Invite them to events where supportive voices will be present (📣 Undeniable Support)
- Provide district-specific evidence of the policy’s benefits (🔧 Strong Conviction)
- Encourage them to talk with colleagues
🟢 A step up brings them toward Level 3 leadership.
Champion / Leader
Your Member introduces legislation, co-leads efforts, recruits other Members, or invests political capital in advancing the policy.
Volunteer Focus: Sustain and magnify their leadership through strong, reliable partnership.
Actions:
- Provide ongoing district connections and positive press coverage.
- Help them influence other Members through coordinated grasstops voices.
- Build bipartisan networks around their leadership to reduce polarization.
- Celebrate successes widely, helping increase public support for others.
- Keep strengthening the relationship so support remains durable across political cycles.
🏆 While this is the peak of the Support Scale for any particular policy— the relationship-building never stops.
Keeping Assessments Internal
⚠️ Important: As you work to apply the Support Scale, it’s essential to remember that these assessments are internal strategy tools, not labels or an assessment to be shared with the Member or their staff, or even with other volunteers outside of your immediate lobby team.
Our relationship-forward approach relies on trust, professionalism, and respect. To honor that:
- Do not disclose your Support Scale assessment to the Member or their staff.
- Do not frame a lawmaker’s actions in terms of “you’re a level 1” or “we need to move you to a level 2.”
- Avoid sharing internal notes, impressions, or strategic interpretations outside the volunteer team.
- Treat these assessments as confidential advocacy planning, designed solely to help your team determine the most constructive next steps.
Our aim is not to judge or label Members of Congress, but to better understand their context and identify relational, respectful ways to support them. It’s also important to remember that this scale is policy-specific, not a permanent rating of a person. The same member might be deeply supportive of one climate solution and hesitant or opposed to another, depending on their district, committee role, timing, or political pressures.
Examples
Growth Assessment
“On comprehensive permitting reform, Senator ___ is currently around a –2, likely due to concerns about impacts on local industry and energy costs. However, they’ve shown openness to clean energy innovation and resilience investments, which gives us a pathway to build trust and explore areas of alignment over time.”
Mixed Support Assessment
“Representative ___ supported resilience funding but has hesitations about carbon pricing, possibly reflecting district priorities around infrastructure and cost concerns. This suggests an opportunity to connect climate solutions to local economic and resilience benefits.”
The Support Scale helps us meet people where they are on this issue, at this moment, so we can direct our energy wisely — building trust and momentum rather than applying pressure, shame, or trying to box anyone in. By keeping this work private and grounded in humility, we model the very political safety that our Theory of Change teaches is necessary for progress.
Preparing for Deepening Relational Advocacy
You have now completed the foundational phase of CCL’s strategic advocacy framework—shifting from passionate climate concern to purposeful, relationship-centered, and strategically aligned advocacy. In this section, you built the core mindset, tools, and analytical skills needed to understand how your actions create real political will.
Training 4: Theory of Change
Grounded your work in CCL’s framework: 📣 Undeniable Support 🔧 Strong Conviction 🛡️ Political Safety
Training 5: Advocacy Detective
Learned to diagnose which condition most needs strengthening, using local insights and research.
Training 6: Support Scale
Translated insights into a clear map for relational action, one step at a time.
You now know how to identify where your Member currently stands—from active opposition to committed leadership—and, importantly, how to determine the next logical and realistic step forward.
Your journey continues in the next—and final—section of your training: Elevating the Conversation. There, you will learn how to bring your strategic preparation into real-time communication. You’ll practice advanced relational skills, including Motivational Interviewing techniques, navigating moments of disagreement, and communicating in ways that preserve connection and political safety even in challenging interactions.
Ready to Test Your Understanding?
Complete the knowledge check to reinforce these concepts and earn credit for this training.