Ted Cruz

Climate change: Cruz says he does not believe the science of climate change, going so far as saying that “global warming alarmists are the equivalent of the flat-Earthers.” The Hoeven amendment, proposed in fact by a Republican, stated that it’s the opinion of Congress that climate change is real, and that human activity contributes to it. Cruz voted against the amendment.

Science funding: Ted thinks that space exploration is a priority, but wants to decrease earth science funding, possibly due to his views on climate change. Since both research fields are funded by NASA, it is unclear how his funding strategy will play out.

Carly Fiorina

Climate change: Carly accepts that climate change is manmade. However, she claims that scientists also say that one nation alone can’t change the global warming trajectory. She is using this as a reason not to act.

Science funding: No clear information found.

Jim Gilmore

Climate change: Jim believes that climate change is real. Perhaps he’s been reading The PhDISH! He opposes the cap/trade policy as a way to fix the problem, but it’s unclear what he believes a good solution will be.

Science funding: Gilmore has been pretty quiet about his views on science funding, but he has opposed stem cell research.

Mike Huckabee

Climate change: Huckabee thinks that the science on climate change is unsettled. He was also unimpressed by the climate talks in Paris, calling it a “sprawling, unenforceable deal”; “already there’s friction? Know what cures friction? Oil.”” It seems fairly clear that his energy policies will lie completely with fossil fuels, and that he will not aid efforts for green energy.

Science funding: Despite that, Mike is very pro-science in other regards. He greatly supports NASA funding, citing all the technological advances that have come from its research. He also considers the government funding of medical research to be a positive investment, and therefore supports increasing the NIH budget in the hope of developing new breakthroughs.

John Kasich

Climate change: Kasich believes that humans are having an impact on climate change, but is unclear about what to do about it. He has reportedly said “Do I think that we should that we should use common sense to do some things to protect [Earth]? Absolutely. Do I think we ought to throw lots of people out of work, and let other countries not be as sensitive as we are to it? No, I wouldn’t think that would make much sense. But, I think as a people that are on this earth, I think we need to be sensitive to it, and I think we need to take some reasonable actions to make sure that we leave this to the next generation in a healthy state.” He appears to be taking a carefully measured stance to not alienate his party’s base while admitting the reality of global warming.

Science funding: Kasich supports increasing science funding, saying that “we do need to double the NIH budget and begin to do the vital medical research, and it should be a priority of the government.”

Rand Paul

Climate change: In January, Paul voted yes to the Hoeven Amendment (see above), but against the Schatz amendment, which states that humans contribute "significantly" to climate change. He also voted against cutting carbon pollution, so despite acknowledging climate change he appears to be unmotivated to address it.

Science funding: Rand Paul says that NASA should be operating in the private sector, and wants to cut government funding for its research. He also wants to cut the NIH budget, believing that there is already plenty of money there.