The Gallup Poll
reports that Americans are more positive about the environment than they have ever been in the 14 years the organization has been asking their views on the subject. Meanwhile, on six major environmental issues, including global warming, they
are less worried than they were last year. The broader question that needs asking is whether the environment is actually better and whether there is less to worry about among those six issues. Certainly, in the case of global warming, there are plenty of reasons to worry more than before. Extinction of species? Ditto. Rain forest loss? Likewise.
Half of those polled rated the environment excellent or good, up 6 percent over last year and 40 percent rate it as fair, down from 44 percent and the lowest level since 2001, when Gallup first asked the question. The 9 percent of Americans rating the quality of the environment as "poor" was close to what Gallup has found during the six years President Obama has been in office:
Unlike the improvement seen in Americans' ratings of the environment today, the percentage who say the quality of the environment is "getting better" has been essentially unchanged since 2009.
But similar to the trend in views about the quality of the current environment, Americans during Obama's presidency have been more likely to say the quality of the environment is getting better than they were to say the same during George H.W. Bush's presidency. When Obama entered office in 2009, Americans' outlook on the environment improved, and it has been fairly stable since.
Republicans are slightly more likely than independents or Democrats to say the environment is getting better. The gap between Republicans and Democrats was much larger prior to 2009, but Democrats—and to a lesser degree, independents—became significantly more positive after Obama took office.
A question naturally arises about whether the increase in positive views about the current state of the environment, especially the sharp rise among Democrats, is because more people see actual improvements or only because they expect to.
Head below the fold for more.
As for specific threats, Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones writes:
The amount Americans worry about the various threats tends to rise and recede in unison, with concern higher in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the revival of environmentalism, and in the late 1990s and early 2000s amid the economic boom. Since then, Americans' worry has fallen, with concern dipping to record lows on most issues in 2010 or 2011. The current level of worry on each issue remains at or near those record lows.
Too bad the seriousness of the threats far exceed the level of concern.