Poll Shows Residents of Western States Prefer Conservation Over Oil and Gas

The majority of the poll’s respondents identified as politically conservative or independent, with 40 percent supporting the MAGA platform.

1 minute read

February 28, 2025, 7:00 AM PST

By Christine McLaren


A cowboy rests his hand on a green gate on a sunny day in Colorado. The United States flag is behind him and he is wearing a straw cowboy hat and glasses. A dirt road is next to him.

jhaskew / Adobe Stock

A bipartisan poll of voters in eight western states shows nearly three quarters of respondents support conservation and environmental protection on public lands over resource extraction.

“72% of respondents… said they would prefer their member of Congress to emphasize protecting clean air, water and wildlife habitat while boosting outdoor recreation over maximizing the amount of public land used for oil and gas drilling,” reports High Country News. That number represents an increase of two percent from last year’s poll and the highest in the poll’s fifteen year history.

The survey, published by Colorado College in collaboration with two pollsters — one Democrat and one Republican — polled residents of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Most of the respondents identified as politically conservative or independent, and four out of ten said they supported President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” platform.

The report, titled Conservation in the West, also covers westerners’ support for federal and state climate change policies, public land decision-making authority and more.

Thursday, February 20, 2025 in High Country News

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