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POLLS ON THE ENVIRONMENT,ENERGY, GLOBAL WARMING, andNUCLEAR POWER
Compiled by Karlyn Bowman, Resident Fellow, AEI and Andrew Rugg,Research Assistant(Updated April 2011)www.aei.org/paper/14888
AEI Public OpinionStudies
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Table of Contents
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The Environment and Energy
April 19, 2011: This AEI Public Opinion Study examines polls on the environment, energy, nuclear power, and global warming. In the first section, we look at national polls on the environment. Democrats lead Republicans by a substantial margin nationally as the party best able to handleenvironmental issues. This was true in the 2008 election cycle although the polls from that timeindicated that the issue was not a top priority for voters. Barack Obama led John McCain by asubstantial margin in the polls on handling the issue.We include available trends from the major pollsters on how recent presidents have handled the issue
in this document. Questions about George W. Bush’s handling of the environment were not asked as
often as questions about his handling of foreign policy or the economy, but he tended to receivenegative marks on
the issue late in his presidency. Questions about President Barack Obama’s
handling of the environment are also not asked regularly by most pollsters. In most polls, he isreceiving positive marks, although they are not as high as they were when he came into office. (See pages 7 and 8)The polls show that the environment is not an issue on the front burner for most Americans today. In
Pew’s
2011 question about priorities for President Obama and Congress, 40
percent said ―protecting the environment‖ should
be a top priority. As a point of comparison, 87 percent said strengthening the
nation’s economy should be a top priority and 84 percent improving the job situation. On this question,more people in 2011 said dealing with the nation’s energy problem should
be a top priority than said that about the environment (50 to 40 percent). Twenty-six percent said global warming should be a top priority (see page 16-17).
Energy issues are looming larger this year and the polls reflect that concern. In Gallup’s ques
tion, 36 percent say protection of the environment should be given priority, even at the risk of curbing economicgrowth, while 54 percent say economic growth should be given priority, even if the environment suffersto some extent. The 54 percent response is the highest on this question since it was first asked in 1984. Most Americans today are sympathetic to, but not active in, the environmental movement. Roughly four in ten told ABC News/Planet Green/Stanford pollsters in July 2008 that they considered themselves tobe environmentalists
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down from 76 percent when Gallup first asked the same question in 1989.
Nineteen percent in Gallup’s March 2010 poll describe themselves as ―active.‖ This is slightly higher
than the number who say they have contacted a public official about an environmental issue (17 percent in the 2010 poll) and been active in a group or organization that works to protect the environment (17 percent in 2010). As for the environmental movement, 76 percent told Gallup in 1992 that themovement ha d definitely or probably done more good than harm. In 2010, 62 percent gave that response. In 1971, 42.9 percent of college freshmen said that being involved in programs to clean upthe environment was an objective considered essential or very important for them. In 2008 28.1 percent
did. There is no indication from this poll or others that young people’s commitment to a clean and
healthful environment has lessened. They, like most Americans, simply attach less urgency to it than inthe past. In polls, people frequently give their Congressional representative high marks, but rate the institutionas a whole poorly. People like their doctors, but they are critical of health maintenance organizationsand the medical profession as a whole. Somet
hing similar may be at work in terms of people’s views
about the environment. A 2007 Yale/Global Strategy Group poll found that 32 percent rated the overallquality of the environment in the U.S. as excellent or good. Fifty-six percent gave that response for thequality of the environment in their local community.
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Causes of Global Warming for Polls on the Environment, Energy, Global Warming, and Nuclear Power, AEI Public Opinion Study, April 2011
In this updated and expanded study of public attitudes on environment issues, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) senior fellow and public opinion expert Karlyn Bowman, with researcher Andrew Rugg, explores trends from major pollsters on the environment,…
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