This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on Americans’ top environmental concerns, climate attitudes, and reactions to the ongoing rollback of public lands protections.

Headlines

Gallup – Water pollution remains Americans’ top environmental concern; record-high numbers of Americans see climate change as a “serious threat” to them personally and say that its effects are already happening [Article]

Gallup – Most Americans say that the country is doing too little to protect the environment, though the partisan divide is larger than ever [Article]

Trust for Public Land – Americans, including Trump voters, widely oppose the sell-off or closure of public lands [Release, Memo]

Key Takeaways

Partisan divides on environmental issues are accelerating again with Trump in office. Gallup finds that a record-high percentage of Democrats but a record-low percentage of Republicans say that the government is doing too little to protect the environment. Additionally, Democrats are less likely than ever before in Gallup’s tracking to say that the quality of the government is getting better and Republicans are actually more likely than ever before to say that environmental quality is improving.

Trump’s second term is the clear driver behind these widening partisan divisions. While Democrats and Republicans have been drifting further apart in their attitudes about environmental issues for 20+ years, this trend clearly intensified during Trump’s first term and slowed somewhat during Biden’s presidency. Now, with Trump in office for the second time, political divisions on the environment and other issues are again reaching historic proportions.

One important facet of these partisan shifts is that independents are hewing much closer to Democrats’ environmental attitudes than Republicans’. Across metrics, from their beliefs about climate change to their desire for stronger environmental protection from the government, independents are shifting closer to Democrats and leaving Republican partisans more isolated on these issues.

Clean water and public lands continue to generate more bipartisan agreement than other environmental issues. Despite the deepening partisan divides across environmental issues–and particularly over climate change–there remain some key points of agreement across party lines.

Public lands have long been a bipartisan priority, and the Trust for Public Land finds that Trump voters, like the rest of the country, oppose efforts to sell off public lands, close them, or lay off the staff that protect them. Additionally, Gallup finds that drinking water pollution remains Americans’ top environmental worry in large part because Democrats, independents, and Republicans all express strong concerns about it.

Good Data Points to Highlight

• [Climate Change] 63% of Americans recognize that the effects of global warming have already begun, a record high in Gallup’s tracking [Gallup]
• [Climate Change] 48% of Americans expect that global warming will pose a “serious threat” to them in their lifetime, a record high in Gallup’s tracking [Gallup]
• [Environmental Protection] 57% of Americans say that the country is doing too little to protect the environment, compared to just 11% who say that the country is doing too much [Gallup]
• [Public Lands] 74% of Americans, including 64% of Trump voters, oppose the closure of public lands in an effort to reduce federal spending [Trust for Public Land]
• [Public Lands] 71% of Americans, including 61% of Trump voters, oppose selling existing public lands to the highest private bidder [Trust for Public Land]
• [Public Lands] 63% of Americans oppose layoffs of staff from federal agencies that manage public lands in an effort to reduce federal spending [Trust for Public Land]
• [Public Lands] 62% of Americans oppose reducing funding to the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other public land management agencies [Trust for Public Land]