Environment-Unfriendly Policies Have Yet to Damage Bush's Ratings

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- From reversing new standards on arsenic in drinking water to abandoning the Kyoto global warming treaty, the Bush administration has announced a series of policies over the past month that have environmentalists seeing red -- and Democrats seeing a political opportunity. Thus far, despite the fact that Americans are at odds with many of these specific environmental actions, Gallup polls show that the public maintains an overall positive view of President Bush's environmental policies.

Gallup's baseline rating of Bush on the environment was recorded in early March, just before the flurry of White House proposals on environmental issues were announced. These proposals included the retraction of a campaign promise to control carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, the decision to drop out of the Kyoto global warming agreement, and the rescission of many Clinton administration environmental proposals. A follow-up survey was completed April 6-8, and it showed little substantive change in the public's ratings of the president on the environment.

The original March 5-7 survey found Americans somewhat optimistic in their environmental expectations for Bush. A slight majority, 51%, predicted he would do a good job of protecting the nation's environment and just 38% said he would do a poor job. Gallup repeated the question in an April 6-8 survey -- after the controversial environmental policies made headlines -- and the results were similar, 49% vs. 41%.

Two patterns stand out in the findings. First, in both polls, the public rated Bush on energy policy and economic prosperity in addition to the environment. In both surveys, he received a lower rating on the environment than he did on energy policy or economic prosperity. For instance, while 49% currently think Bush will do a good job on the environment, 54% think he will do a good job of improving the nation's energy policy and 60% say he will do a good job of keeping the country prosperous. At the same time, the decline in the percentage saying he will do a "good job" dropped more in the past month on economic prosperity (from 66% in March to 60% in April) and energy policy (58% to 54%) than on environmental protection (51% to 49%). These findings suggest that the highly visible decline in the stock market and other signs of a deteriorating economy has thus far over-shadowed the administration's initiatives in the environmental area -- at least in the eyes of the general public.

When the public is asked to prognosticate about Bush administration environmental protection, they show even less concern about his policies. Only a third of Americans, 34% believe environmental protection will be weakened under Bush. While that clearly outnumbers the 13% who expect that environmental protection policies will be strengthened, the plurality, 48%, thinks that environmental protection will be kept about the same during Bush's tenure in office.

Still, a slight plurality of Americans disagree with the president's announcement that the United States will not adhere to the 1997 international Kyoto treaty (the treaty calls for limits on carbon dioxide and other gases that are believed to contribute to global warming). According to the early April poll, 48% of Americans disapprove of this position while 41% approve.

Public support for other Bush environmental initiatives is as follows:

• While Bush has pledged to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for oil exploration, only 40% of Americans support this -- 56% are opposed.
• Eighty-one percent of Americans favor setting higher emissions and pollution standards for business and industry, in contrast to Bush's policy decision.

• Three-quarters of Americans (77%) favor stronger enforcement of federal environmental regulations. In contrast, Bush policy advocates increasing the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water, relaxing pollution rules on blending corn-based ethanol with gasoline to expand the fuel supply, and delaying a ban on road construction and logging in a third of all federal forest land, thus reversing several Clinton administration directives.

• Nearly four in five Americans (79%) favor spending more government money on developing solar and wind power, something the Bush 2002 budget proposes to do.

Survey Methods

The most recent results shown below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,025 adults, 18 years and older, conducted April 6-8, 2001. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 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.

Do you think George W. Bush will do a good job or a poor job in handling each of the following issues as president? How about -- [RANDOM ORDER]?

A. Protecting the nation's environment

 

	Good job	Poor job	FAIR/MIXED (vol.)	No opinion
2001 Apr 6-8	49%	41	4	6
2001 Mar 5-7	51%	38	5	6

B. Improving the nation's energy policy

 

	Good job	Poor job	FAIR/MIXED (vol.)	No opinion
2001 Apr 6-8	54%	36	3	7
2001 Mar 5-7	58%	29	6	7

C. Keeping America prosperous

 

	Good job	Poor job	FAIR/MIXED (vol.)	No opinion
2001 Apr 6-8	60%	30	4	6
2001 Mar 5-7	66%	23	7	4

When it comes to environmental protection, which of these do you think is most likely to happen over the next four years under the Bush administration -- [ROTATED: the nation's environmental protection policies will be strengthened, the nation's environmental protection policies will be kept about the same, or the nation's environmental policies will be weakened]?

BASED ON -- 506 -- NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM A; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

	Strengthened	Kept about the same	Weakened	No opinion
2001 Apr 6-8	13%	48	34	5

President Bush recently announced that the United States will not adhere to the Kyoto international treaty, which sets voluntary limits on the production of carbon dioxide and other global warming related gases. Bush said that the treaty places too much of an economic burden on the United States while demanding little of developing countries. Do you approve or disapprove of Bush's decision for the United States not to adhere to the Kyoto treaty?

BASED ON -- 519 -- NATIONAL ADULTS IN FORM B; ±5 PCT. PTS.

 

	Approve	Disapprove	No opinion
2001 Apr 6-8	41%	48	11

Next I am going to read some specific environmental proposals. For each one, please say whether you generally favor or oppose it. How about – [RANDOM ORDER]?

ENVIRONMENTAL PROPOSALS SUMMARY TABLE

2001 Mar 5-7 (sorted by "favor")	Favor	Oppose
	%	%
Setting higher emissions and pollution standards for business and industry	81	17
Spending more government money on developing solar and wind power	79	19
More strongly enforcing federal environmental regulations	77	20
Setting higher auto emissions standards for automobiles	75	23
Giving tax breaks to provide incentives for drilling for more oil and gas in the Unites States	53	43
Expanding use of nuclear energy	44	51
Opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration	40	56
Setting legal limits on the amount of energy which average consumers can use	35	62

(vol) -- Volunteered Response