Fifty-six percent of poll respondents said Bush is doing too little to protect the environment, a sharp increase from 2001 when only 41 percent said the president was not doing enough for the environment.
Global Warming Seen as Serious Problem
In the national poll [PDF], which surveyed 1,478 adults over a five-day period and has a 3 percent plus or minus margin of error, seven out of 10 Americans said global warming is a serious environmental problem, 58 percent said the Bush administration is not doing enough to reduce it.
Still, the poll isn’t all bad news for President Bush. According to the poll, most Americans agree with his preference for investing in new energy technologies to address global warming and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, rather than placing mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions as the Kyoto Protocol requires. (President Bush has refused repeatedly to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, claiming that mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions would damage the U.S. economy.)
Fifty-two percent favored investing in alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power, and a surprising 61 percent said they would support increased use of nuclear energy if it would help to prevent global warming.
Politics and Poll Results
Responses to the poll questions were strongly divided along political lines. Seventy-four percent of Republicans support the president’s stance on the environment, compared with only 18 percent of Democrats. On the other hand, more than two-thirds of all respondents said congressional Democrats do a better job on environmental issues than Republicans.
Lisa Brutvan, 42, a real estate consultant from Atlanta and a poll respondent, told the Los Angeles Times she voted for Bush because of his stance on terrorism.
"I knew in making that decision that I was making a choice against the environment. I figured that for eight years we could survive it," she said. "But I think it's reaching a little bit more of a critical mass. At some point you've just got to look at things realistically and realize we're not leaving much of a legacy for our grandchildren if we don't address these issues.”
Additional highlights of the poll include:
Energy and the Environment
- 75 percent of Americans say the rising cost of gasoline, electricity, and energy for heating and air conditioning over the previous six months motivated them to conserve energy or cut back on other household spending.
- Fewer than 10 percent say the government should require stricter mileage standards to help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
- Fifty-one percent of Americans oppose drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for environmental reasons, while 45 percent agree with drilling proponents who argue that ANWR would expand U.S. oil supplies and help the country end its dependence on foreign oil. Those numbers show a significant increase in public support for drilling in ANWR since 2001, when 55 percent of Americans opposed drilling and only 34 percent supported opening ANWR to oil exploration.
Global Warming and the Environment
- 47 percent believe global warming is caused by human activities; 16 percent believe both natural climate cycles and human activities contribute to global warming; and about a third say the increase in global temperatures is the result of natural climate changes alone.
- 78 percent of Americans say the government should do more to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.
- 56 percent favor market incentives to develop new technology that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while only 11 percent support mandatory caps for businesses and vehicles.
Business and the Environment
- Nearly three of four Americans say businesses can’t be trusted to protect the environment without government regulation, compared to 22 percent who say most businesses are trustworthy and government should intervene only in the worst cases.
