A new poll from Gallup finds that nearly half of all Americans worry “a great deal” about the environment, and that concerns have risen since before former President Trump took office.
According to the pollRespondents said that 44 percent of them worry a lot about their environment. 27% worry a lot and 28 percent worry very little.
Gallup stated that it is not clear if Trump’s rising concerns about the environment are directly related to his presidency. Trump has doubted climate change’s effects and his administration moved against Obama-era plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Trump was also a strong supporter of the coal sector.
“The environment is more of a concern to Americans today than it was before Trump took office,” Gallup researchers wrote. “It’s not clear whether Trump’s presidency was the sole catalyst behind heightened concern among Democrats and independents during this period, or if his term merely coincided with worsening news about environmental problems, but the signal is unambiguous.”
Since Gallup began tracking the question of how much Americans are worried about the environment in 2001, the percentage of U.S. residents worried “a great deal” about the issue has wavered between 31 percent and 47 percent.
The environment worries cover many issues, including climate change, global warming, human activities, water pollution, protection and conservation of natural areas, and wildlife.
According to Gallup poll, 57 percent of Americans are concerned about polluted drinking waters.
Americans ranking the environmental quality in the U.S. as “poor” reached an all-time high in 2022, with 18 percent of respondents saying so, compared to the the past two decades. At the same time, the precentage of Americans ranking the environment as “excellent” or good fell to its lowest mark, with 39 percent of those surveyed saying so.
Climate change worries 43 percent of Americans. Rising global temperatures are linked to more frequent hurricanes, raging wildfires, and melting sea ice. Scientists warn of even more dire consequences if emissions are not reduced.
A major United Nations report on Monday revealed that the world is likely overtake the crucial environmental threshold required to limit the devastating effects of climate changes.
The world must keep the average global temperature at 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels. But the report suggests that the globe will likely exceed that mark and that it will take a lot of effort to bring it down.
The poll shows that Democrats are more vocal in addressing climate change. The poll found that 56 percent of Democrats were concerned about the environment more than 24 percent of Republicans.
In the past 20 decades, as high as 69 per cent of Democrats have expressed concerns about the environment, while as low as 13 per cent of Republicans has expressed concern.
Gallup’s March 1-18poll was conducted among 1,017 U.S. adults across the U.S. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points.
