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Public Opinion Snapshot: Americans Still Support Environmental Protection

By Climate Guest Blogger on May 18, 2012 at 12:25 pm

Figure 1by Ruy Teixeira

Given today’s economic problems, you’d think the public would be in a surly mood about environmental protection, seeing it as a secondary and perhaps conflicting priority to jobs and economic growth. That’s certainly what conservatives are hoping as they continue to push their environment-wrecking agenda.

Turns out, though, the public didn’t get the memo. In the recently released poll from Yale University’s and George Mason University’s climate change communication programs, 58 percent of poll respondents said that protecting the environment improves economic growth and creates new jobs. Just 17 percent thought environmental protection hurts growth and jobs, and 25 percent thought there was no effect.

In the same poll, when asked to choose directly which was more important—environmental protection or economic growth—the public decisively favored protecting the environment 62 percent to 38 percent when there is a conflict between the two goals.

Figure 2

So no, the bad economy has not turned the public off to environmental protection. Conservatives, if they are wise, will factor that into their political calculations.

Ruy Teixeira is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. This is a CAP cross-post.

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NEWS FLASH

Poll: 83 Percent Of Americans Support Medicare Reform | Eighty-three percent of Americans believe Medicare must be reformed in order to keep the program affordable and sustainable and 51 percent say a “great deal of change” is required, a new Harris Poll finds. A majority are reluctant to fund the necessary changes out-of-pocket, but do support changing the way providers are reimbursed for care — provisions that are included in the Affordable Care Act.

Interestingly, 48 percent of respondents — including 46 percent of Republicans — said they “support the Medicare program we have now, where people can choose the government run program or a plan from a private health insurance company.” Just 13 percent — and 26 percent of Republicans — would favor “a Medicare program solely run by private insurance companies.” The other results:

– 53 percent were opposed to raising taxes

– 60 percent opposed “increasing co-pays and deductibles so that out-of-pocket costs will increase”

– 72 percent support cutting the price Medicare pays for prescription drugs

– 57 percent are in favor of having people with higher incomes pay more for their Medicare benefits than people with lower incomes

– 54 percent support the proposal that doctors and hospitals be paid “based on quality and results, rather than the volume of care provided”

Currently, over 15 percent of the federal budget goes toward funding Medicare, and that number is expected to increase to roughly 18 percent by 2020.

– Fatima Najiy

By Guest Blogger on Apr 26, 2012 at 3:40 pm

NEWS FLASH

Support For Marriage Equality Up 8 Percentage Points Since 2008 | A new survey from Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that support for marriage equality has increased substantially since the 2008 presidential election, with 47 percent of Americans now favoring same-sex marriage — up from 39 percent in 2008. Thirty-one percent backed the concept in 2004, while 60 percent opposed the idea. Pew also found that for the first time, “there is as much strong support as strong opposition to gay marriage. In the current survey, 22 percent say they strongly support allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally; an identical percentage (22 percent) strongly opposes gay marriage. In 2008, there was about twice as much strong opposition to as strong support for gay marriage (30 percent vs. 14 percent).”

Health

POLL: Despite Incessant Attacks And Misrepresentations, Public Still Split On Health Reform

By Igor Volsky on Apr 24, 2012 at 10:18 am

The Kaiser Family Foundation is out with a new poll showing that the “increased public attention to the Affordable Care Act generated by the Supreme Court’s consideration of the law did not meaningfully change the public’s opinion of the law overall or of the specific provision at the heart of critics’ legal case against it.” In fact, despite the best efforts of conservatives and their allies to malign the law — respondents said they were exposed to more negative than positive message — and the relatively unfriendly coverage surrounding the constitutional challenge, support for the ACA remains split: 42 percent say they have a favorable opinion of the law this month and 43 percent have an unfavorable one.

While a little over half of Americans are telling polsters that the court should rule the mandate unconstitutional — a number that is unchanged since March — a majority still believe that the measure will continue to be implemented and support its individual provisions:






On the whole, these numbers may not paint the most positive picture, but given the coordinated multi-million dollar assault against reform and the relatively slow pace of implementation, it is fairly remarkable that public is almost evenly divided. And it suggests that as the benefits trickle in, the public will be at the very least open to accepting the measure more fully.

NEWS FLASH

POLL: Only 6 Percent Of Russians Have Seen ‘Gay Propaganda’ | Russia is currently considering following St. Petersburg’s lead and passing legislation outlawing so called “gay propaganda.” But a new poll from a state-run polling company finds that “only six percent of Russians say they have seen “gay propaganda,” but 86 percent say the would support such a ban.

NEWS FLASH

Most North Carolinians Believe Marriage Equality Will Soon Be Legal | Forty-five percent of North Carolina voters believe that marriage equality will be legal within a generation, while 41 percent think it will continue to be illegal, a new Public Policy Polling survey finds. Independents and Democrats predict the change, while more than half of all Republicans say the status quo will continue:

NEWS FLASH

Poll: 58 Percent of NC Voters Support Amendment One, 34 Percent Are Uninformed | Fifty-eight percent of likely voters in North Carolina said they would vote in favor of the state’s inequality amendment, even as thirty-four percent of those same respondents admit to not knowing what the bill entails, a new survey released by Public Policy Polling shows. The number of voters who said they would vote ‘yes’ dropped to just 41 percent once informed that Amendment One bans both same-sex marriage and civil unions. Just 31 percent of respondents could correctly identify the bill’s aim, while 7 percent thought Amendment One legalizes same-sex marriage. — Fatima Najiy

By Guest Blogger on Mar 29, 2012 at 4:28 pm

Health

Georgia Senate Passes Watered Down ‘Fetal Pain’ Bill

By Intern on Mar 27, 2012 at 12:30 pm

Women protest against anti-abortion bills in Georgia. (Source: AP)

State legislators across the country have been debating several bills to limit women’s access to abortion, from cutting off funding to putting more barriers in their way. Lawmakers in Georgia have been considering one of those bills — a measure that would prevent women from receiving abortions 20 weeks after fertilization — and the Senate passed an amended version of the legislation. A bipartisan group of senators agreed to an amended version of the controversial GOP-backed House Bill 954. The amended bill passed on a 36-19 vote, though it’s unclear whether Republicans in the state House will accept the changes.

The original legislation, sponsored by Republican Rep. Doug McKillip, would have effectively outlawed abortion 20 weeks, the point where the lawmaker said fetuses can feel pain — a concept that has been widely disputed by many doctors. Although exceptions were allowed in cases where a pregnancy threatened the life or health of the women, no exemption would be granted in cases of rape or incest. The law, once enacted, would have “cut by about six weeks the time women in Georgia may have an elective abortion.”

At the last minute, members of the Senate adopted a key change that “would allow women to get an abortion even after the five-month mark if a doctor determined a fetus has a fatal congenital or chromosomal defect.” Under current Georgia law, women are permitted to get abortions for any reason during the first six months of a pregnancy. Abortions are also legal during the last three months of pregnancy, but “only to protect a woman’s life or her physical or mental health.” Opponents of the 20 week ban argue that most late-term abortions are sought out by parents “who learn their unborn child will not survive outside the womb.”

“I think we need to give doctors and their patients that opportunity,” said Republican Sen. John Bulloch. He added that lawmakers should “not punish a pregnant woman.”

The passage of HB 954 would make Georgia the seventh state to ban abortions after 20 weeks:

Six states — Nebraska, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Alabama — have similar “fetal pain” restrictions; a seventh, North Carolina, restricts abortion at 20 weeks. Passing the bill now throws Georgia into a stormy debate in this national election year over abortion limits. Most notably, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law this month a controversial bill requiring Virginia women to undergo an ultrasound procedure prior to having an abortion, although he backed off a mandate to require a trans-vaginal ultrasound.

The bill now heads back to the House, where the proposal could fail if an agreement is not reached by Thursday, when the General Assembly adjourns for the year.

To see more about the anti-abortion bills legislators in Georgia and several other states have been debating, check out our interactive map HERE.

– Fatima Najiy

NEWS FLASH

Watch: Two Gay Siblings Come Out To Their Catholic Latino Family | The Brave New Foundation’s Cuéntame presents the latest in its collection called “An Honest Conversation,” stories about LGBT Latino youth and their friends, families, and communities. This video features the Morenos, a fervently Catholic Latino family in Arizona in which both brother and sister faced the struggle of coming out as gay to their parents. In the end, they agree that despite its challenges, their coming out strengthened the family’s union, because “this is all we have, the family.” Watch it:

(HT: Towleroad.)

By Intern on Mar 27, 2012 at 12:30 pm

NEWS FLASH

52 Percent Of Marylanders Would Uphold Same-Sex Marriage Law | Fifty-two percent of respondents to a Maryland poll said they would “probably” or “definitely” vote in favor of the state’s recently-enacted same-sex marriage law should it appear on the ballot in November, while 44 percent of the 600 respondents said they would “probably” or “definintely” vote against it. The poll was commissioned by Marylanders for Marriage Equality and conducted by Public Policy Polling. Polls recently released by Gonzales and The Washington Post have reported the split in votes closer to 50-50. Opponents of the law are currently trying to collect the 56,000 signatures needed to put the law on the November ballot. — Fatima Najiy

By Guest Blogger on Mar 8, 2012 at 4:10 pm

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