Environment Not a Pressing Concern

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Typical Earth Day activities -- festivals, nature hikes, environmental symposiums, and other events designed to attract public interest in the environment -- are going on as usual this week in celebration of the 34th anniversary of the first Earth Day. The question is, how many Americans beyond a core group of environmentalist-minded activists are paying attention?

Gallup's annual Environment/Earth Day poll, conducted March 8-11, finds Americans fairly critical of the quality of the nation's environment today. By a 57% to 43% margin, more Americans rate current environmental conditions as "only fair" or "poor" than say they are "excellent" or "good." This assessment is slightly more negative than those of two and three years ago.

Americans’ Ratings of Current Environmental Conditions

Similarly, by a 58% to 34% margin, more Americans believe the environment is getting worse rather than better. This evaluation has remained fairly steady in recent years.

Perceived Trend in Environmental Conditions

But despite these negative views of environmental conditions, Gallup finds Americans less concerned about the environment today than they are about several other issues on the national agenda -- particularly healthcare, but also crime, drug use, terrorism, and the economy. Barely one-third (35%) worry a great deal about the quality of the environment, while 62% worry either a great deal or a fair amount. This puts the environment on par with energy, hunger and homelessness, and unemployment.

Furthermore, Americans are less worried today about the environment than they have been in the past. The 62% of Americans who worry a great deal or fair amount about environmental quality today is down from 68% last year, and from 77% in 2001.

Degree to Which Americans Worry About the Quality of the Environment

One of the most striking findings in the Environment/Earth Day poll comes from a question that asks Americans whether environmental protection or economic growth should be given priority when the two interests conflict. Since first asked in 1984, this has been a key Gallup indicator of public sympathy toward the environmental movement. But compared to previous years, in each of the past two years a record low proportion of Americans have chosen environmental protection. Today, just 49% say protection of the environment should be given priority, while nearly as many (44%) say economic growth should take priority.

Two years ago, the margin in favor of the environment on this question was much stronger: 54% to 36%. But even that was low by historical standards. For most of the 1990s, the public sided with the environment over the economy by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

Which Should Take Precedence: Environmental Protection or Economic Growth?

To some degree, this shift away from environmental protection may reflect the tough economic situation facing the country in the past few years. Support for environmental protection peaked at 70% in January 2000, at the same time the economy was booming, then gradually declined to 47% by 2003. It remains at roughly that level today.

Little Top-of-Mind Concern

A different test of the salience of the environment to Americans comes from an open-ended question asking, "What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?" Historically, the environment has rarely been mentioned by more than 5% of the public on this measure; more often, the figure has been in the 1% to 2% range. This is the case today, as just 2% name the environment. Rather than the environment, the economy and issues related to terrorism and the Iraq situation lead the list of issues Americans see as most pressing.

What has changed is that Americans are now less likely to see the environment as a long-term problem. In 2000, the environment ranked as the top problem for the future, mentioned by 14% of Americans. Today it ranks third (with 8% of mentions) behind the economy and Social Security.

"Looking ahead, what do you think will be the most important problem facing our nation 25 years from now?"

A Political Issue

A key feature of environmental attitudes is that they are highly partisan. Republicans are inclined to paint a rosy picture of the quality of environmental conditions today, and perhaps as a result, indicate little worry about the issue. Democrats are much more likely to take a negative view of environmental conditions, and close to half worry a great deal about the issue.

Environmental Attitudes by Party ID

March 8-11, 2004

Despite the youthful image sometimes associated with the environmental movement, young adults are not particularly critical of environmental conditions compared with older adults. More than 4 in 10 18- to 29-year-olds (42%) consider environmental quality to be excellent or good. This compares with 43% of 30- to 49-year-olds, 46% of 50- to 64-year-olds, and 39% of those 65 and older.

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,005 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted March 8-11, 2004. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

11. Next I'm going to read a list of problems facing the country. For each one, please tell me if you personally worry about this problem a great deal, a fair amount, only a little, or not at all? First, how much do you personally worry about -- [RANDOM ORDER]?

A. Hunger and homelessness

B. Crime and violence

C. The quality of the environment

D. The availability and affordability of health care

E. Drug use

F. Race relations

G. Illegal immigration

H. The availability and affordability of energy

I. The economy

J. Unemployment

K. The possibility of future terrorist attacks in the U.S.

SUMMARY TABLE: CONCERN ABOUT NATIONAL ISSUES

15. How would you rate the overall quality of the environment in this country today -- as excellent, good, only fair, or poor?

16. Right now, do you think the quality of the environment in the country as a whole is getting better or getting worse?

ENVIRONMENTAL OUTLOOK GROUPS (COMBINED RESPONSES: Qs. 15-16)

18. With which one of these statements about the environment and the economy do you most agree -- [ROTATED: protection of the environment should be given priority, even at the risk of curbing economic growth (or) economic growth should be given priority, even if the environment suffers to some extent]?