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 epublican primary voters are more concerned about
environmental protection than either cutting taxes or restricting
abortion, according to new poll by independent pollster John
Zogby. The survey, conducted in mid-August and released in early
September, polled likely Republican voters in five early primary
or caucus states: California, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York,
and South Carolina. Of those surveyed, 93 percent said protecting
the environment was important in deciding their vote for a candidate.
That is the same percentage of Republican primary voters who
called "encouraging family values" important in deciding
their vote, more than cutting taxes (91 percent), and substantially
more than restricting abortion (61 percent). The poll's
margin of error is ±2.4 percent.
 Despite
the negative connotation of the word "environmentalist"
among some Republicans, Zogby found that, overall, likely GOP
voters in these key states are evenly divided between those who
call themselves environmentalists (47 percent) and those who
say they are not (50 percent). More than four in five respondents
(85 percent), however, say it is important to them that a candidate
be a strong supporter of the environment.
Zogby conducts
polls for Reuters, Fox News, Gannett and many newspapers and
television stations. The National Environmental Trust (NET),
which commissioned the poll, is making the results of the poll
available to all the presidential campaigns. NET does not
take any position on elections, candidates, or political campaigns.
"This
poll blows up the conventional wisdom among many leaders of the
Republican Party that their grass roots don't support strong
environmental action by the federal government," said NET
president Philip E. Clapp.
"Republican
candidates would be wise to note that there has been a significant
shift of the party's likely primary voters away from the far
right and more toward the center," said Zogby. "This
can be seen on several issues but notably here, in regard to
favoring solid federal presence on behalf of the environment."
According
to political consultant Dick Morris, voters under age 35 are
giving Bush his big lead over Gore, making Generation X voters
"the jump ball of our politics." The key to reaching
them, Morris wrote recently, is the environment, an issue of
importance to this age group.
The most important
environmental issues to likely Republican primary and caucus
voters, who were asked to choose from a list of eight issues,
were improving drinking water (97 percent), cleaning up toxic
waste (96 percent), improving air quality (93 percent), and requiring
auto companies to meet fuel efficiency standards (88 percent).
Even on global warming, an issue that some Republicans have viewed
as a vulnerability to possible Democratic nominee Al Gore, 79.5
percent called the issue important.
The most
popular pro-environment positions, which will help GOP candidates
win the most support from likely primary voters, include requiring
manufacturers to include information about cancer-causing ingredients
on their product labels (67 percent would be more likely to support
such a candidate), support for modernizing power plants and automobiles
to reduce emissions (59 percent), and favoring a stronger federal
role in regulating pesticides currently in use (56 percent).
The least
popular anti-environmental positions, which would cost Republican
primary candidates the most support, include accepting political
contributions from companies that pollute and then want to weaken
clean air and water laws (79 percent would be less likely to
support such a candidate), saying global warming has not been
proven and is nothing to worry about (65 percent), and relaxing
the Clean Water Act (61 percent).
Issues that
the federal government should do more to address, according to
a plurality of those surveyed, are cleaning up toxic wastes (46
percent), improving drinking water (44 percent), and protecting
against sprawl (44 percent). Nearly half those surveyed (48 percent)
would favor a candidate who takes global warming seriously and
believes it will lead to disrupted weather patterns, against
a fifth (21 percent) who would be less likely to support such
a candidate, with the rest saying it would make no difference.
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