By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Maybe the American public is finally seeing the evidence of climate change due to global warming from the burning of fossil fuels where they live. That as well as the heightened news coverage about it and concern being shown by politicians and agencies in Washington again has the environment back on the public opinion agenda.

The latest Gallup poll on the subject shows U.S. public concern about the quality of the environment near its two-decade high, with 44 percent of Americans worrying “a great deal” about it.

For the seventh straight year, the rest are about evenly divided between those worrying “a fair amount” (27%) versus “only a little” or “not at all” (28%).

The recent stretch of elevated public concern about the environment contrasts with more muted worry in the first 15 years after Gallup began tracking this public sentiment in 2001. From 2001 to 2015, closer to a third of Americans said they worried a great deal about the environment, with the figure exceeding 40 percent only twice, in 2001 and 2007.

Worry Driven by Democrats and Independents

Consistent with their party’s strong focus on environmental issues, including climate change and global warming, Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to harbor substantial concern about the environment, 56 percent to 24 percent.

Bucking the typical pattern of political independents’ views falling midway between Republicans’ and Democrats’, however, 50 percent of independents are now as likely as Democrats to say they worry a great deal about the environment, Gallup says, while only the Republicans don’t seem to care much.

While this wasn’t always the case, independents’ views have typically been closer to Democrats’ since 2016, when Donald Trump won a surprise victory in the presidential election and downplayed science and the environment during his administration, gutting the federal agencies that deal with regulating the environment, especially the Environmental Protection Agency.

Rising environmental worry among Democrats and independents starting around 2015 has driven overall public concern higher since then, even as Republicans’ concern has remained consistently low.

Democrats’ concern ended up being the highest during Trump’s presidency, no doubt because of his anti-environment stance and policies, and has eased only slightly since President Joe Biden took office in 2021. It is still higher than it was through most of Barack Obama’s presidency, from 2009 to 2016, somewhat a reflection of his administration’s policies at least attempting to deal with environmental problems, although then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked much.

Concern among independents’ peaked in 2019 and has since remained high, keeping it a viable campaign issue in the 2022 midterms in November.

Environmental Outlook

Another sign of Americans’ heightened concern about environmental quality comes from the recent increase in those describing the quality of the environment as “poor.”

It could be that as more people see up close the extreme heat, drought and wildfires in the West, and more hurricanes, strong storms and flooding in the East, they are beginning to catch on to what scientists and some journalists have been saying for decades — warning that a warming planet would lead to these changes in the climate.

This feeling that the environment is in poor condition has doubled since 2015, up from 9 percent in 2015 to 18 percent now.

Over the same period, the percentage rating the environment as “excellent” or “good” has declined from 50 percent to 39 percent, while the percentage considering it “only fair” has remained about the same.

When asked about the direction in which the environment is trending, more Americans have consistently perceived conditions to be getting worse rather than better. The extent of this pessimism has varied, however, “seemingly tied to beliefs about federal policy,” Gallup’s analysts say.

The public had a particularly dim environmental forecast from 2005 to 2008, coinciding with the last few years of Republican George W. Bush‘s presidency. It was a time of deregulation and tax cuts and lax enforcement of environmental laws and policies. During the Bush years, between 63 percent and 68 percent said the quality of the environment was getting worse.

Attitudes improved in 2010, a year after Barack Obama took office, when those saying the problem was “getting worse” view fell to 48 percent, compared to 41 percent saying environmental conditions were improving.

Pessimism expanded during Trump’s presidency, peaking at 64 percent in 2019.

And while it again improved at the start of Biden’s term, falling to 52 percent, it increased slightly this year to 59 percent, most likely because of the failure of Congress to reach a consensus on a climate and social spending bill, held up by moderate, pro-business and pro-coal Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Evaluating this trend by party makes it clear, Gallup says, that most of these changes reflect waxing and waning pessimism about the environment among Democrats, due to the political context. They are much more likely to believe the environment is getting worse when Republicans control the White House and Congress than the other way around, which is reasonable since Democrats seem committed to working to improve the environment, while Republicans just tend to dismiss those concerns and favor a free market economy with no regulations.

The message may be getting out more to Republicans as well as independents, however, at least among voters, if not party leadership. The increase in pessimism this year, Gallup reports, is due mainly to more Republicans and independents saying conditions are worsening than they did last year, while Democrats’ views have remained about the same.

Water Pollution Leads Environmental Concerns

In terms of which environmental issues Americans worry about, Gallup finds pollution of drinking water and natural waterways at the top of the list, with majorities saying they worry a great deal about both. This includes more than 60 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of independents and about 40 percent of Republicans.

Global warming is also a major concern for Democrats, at 67 percent, while ranking last among independents and Republicans.

Air pollution and loss of tropical rain forests rank as mid-level concerns for all groups.

Implications

The environment is more of a concern to Americans today than it was before Trump took office, Gallup says. “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.”

While Democrats’ concern has lessened a bit since Biden took office, it still exceeds where it stood before Trump. Democrats’ concern about the environment will likely only be amplified by the latest alarm sounded by the United Nations over global warming and the need to slash carbon emissions.

Related: Deep Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Required or Humanity Faces Hellish Future

“Until now, Biden’s mixed record of success in implementing his environmental agenda, including being unable to achieve congressional passage of a major climate and social spending bill last year, is likely a major reason that barely seven in 10 Democrats approve of him on the issue,” Gallup says.

Biden’s 72 percent approval rating on the environment from Democrats was about tied with his 73 percent approval rating from Democrats on energy, most likely because of the spike in gas prices in March.

“Biden is now including billions in his 2023 federal budget proposal for measures to address climate change,” Gallup says. “But to earn full credit from fellow Democrats who care deeply about the issue, that spending will need to go through” and be approved by Congress.

These results come from Gallup’s March 1-18 Environment poll. The annual survey has been conducted each March since 2001.

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