Poller Opposites

The U.S. electoral silly season is upon us. And, most polls indicate a strong shift in the political winds. Those same polls also suggest that the issue of legal protection of the environment elicits seemingly conflicting responses from voters.

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll, conducted from October 27-30, 2006, posed two questions about environmental protection.

The first, Question 11, asked "Of all the problems facing this country today, which one do you most want the new Congress to concentrate on first?" Only 2% of voters chose "Environment". Eleven other issues were deemed more pressing. On the bright side, this is a marked improvment, because "Environment" did not even appear in the poll in 1998.

The second, Question 78, asked "Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: Protecting the environment is so important that requirements and standards cannot be too high and continuing environmental improvements must be made regardless of cost." Here, more people agreed (66%) and fewer disagreed (33%) than in any poll conducted since 1992.

So, to summarize, once Congress solves those first eleven pesky little issues - the war in Iraq, immigration, healthcare, the economy, defense/military, terrorism, education, jobs, poverty, foreign policy, and same-sex marriage - American voters will enthusiastically support efforts to protect the environment.