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Poll: Rockies Voters Want Stronger Economy, Environmental Protections

By Kylee Perez, 3-01-11

When pollsters asked how voters in five Rocky Mountain states how much of their state's energy should come from renewables, the average answer was 65 percent. Photo by Flickr user G.G.P. Grey.

Voters in five Rocky Mountain states say state and federal leaders should still fund programs that protect land, air and wildlife despite budget woes, according to the results of a recent survey titled “Conservation in the West.”

Pollsters called 2,200 voters throughout Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in late January and asked them questions to create a snapshot of how Westerners viewed conservation and environmental issues.

“Residents reject the concept that the economy and environment are in conflict,” said Walt Hecox, a professor of environmental science at Colorado College and director of their State of the Rockies project. “In this trying economic time that’s really interesting.”

Throughout the region, 77 percent of voters said leaders can protect land and water and have a strong economy at the same time.

Voters pointed to renewable energy resources as a way to both stimulate the economy and protect the air, land and wildlife. The majority, 70 percent, said that we should start replacing coal with other energy sources like wind and solar power. About the same amount, 67 percent, thought that increasing these renewable sources would help create new jobs in their state.

“Voters can see a policy that will benefit the environment in terms of being a cleaner source of energy and also have a positive economic impact at the same time,” said Dave Metz, a partner at the Democratic polling firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, which helped conduct the survey. “We see that voters would want much more of their states’ energy to come from renewable sources.”

Renewable energy makes up a small percentage of energy sources in region. Montana leads in renewable energy use with 36 percent while other states trail behind with Colorado at 10 percent, New Mexico at 5 percent, Wyoming at 4 percent and Utah at 2 percent, according to information provided to survey respondents. Voters said that this number should be closer to 65 percent.

Eighty-five percent of respondents said they were willing to pay more per month to get their energy from renewable sources.

“When it comes to renewable energy, voters in the West are willing to put their money where their mouth is and pay more to get the renewable energy that they’re telling us they want,” Metz said.

Fifty-four percent of voters said they would be willing to pay $10 or more a month to increase the amount of energy coming from renewable sources.

The researchers hope that the survey can be used to more closely align policy changes with public opinions.

“There’s in some sense a gap, a lack of data about where the public was on some of these issues. Hopefully these results can help to fill that gap and provide policymakers with more information than they had before about where the public is,” Metz said. “They obviously need to (weigh) that with all the other considerations that they take into account when shaping policy, but hopefully this is something that can be added to the discussion in a productive way.”

Other results from the poll:

Fifty-one percent said we should not take action on global warming. However, 67 percent of voters said they support U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requiring reductions in carbon emissions from sources like power plants, cars and factories in an effort to reduce global warming.

The William and Flora Hewlett foundation funded the survey with a grant. The bipartisan team of Lori Weigel at Public Opinion Strategies and David Metz at Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates conducted the study and the Colorado College’s State of the Rockies project supported it.

Kylee Perez is based in Boulder, Colorado.

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By Kylee Perez, 3-01-11 | comments (13) | email story | print story