| Is Public Support for Environmental Protection Decreasing? An Analysis of U.S. and New Jersey Data Michael R. Greenberg E.J. Bloustein School, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA Abstract
Telephone surveys made of 800-1,000 randomly selected residents of the United States and New Jersey in 2003 show a sharp decline in support for antipollution regulations, although pollution remains a major concern. This drop in support is associated with slowing of the economy, fear of terrorism, and other competing priorities. The leading proponents of maintaining strong environmental regulations are relatively affluent mainstream white Americans. Despite this recent drop in support, overt attempts to weaken the basic regulations are likely to face stiff opposition unless there is an obvious economic downturn or increasing terrorism that causes a larger proportion of the public to feel that weakening environmental regulations will increase jobs and security. Key words: age, environmental laws and regulations, perception, polls, public support, race/ethnicity, trends. Environ Health Perspect 112:121-125 (2004) . doi:10.1289/ehp.6648 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 12 November 2003]
Address correspondence to M.R. Greenberg, E.J. Bloustein School, Rutgers University, 33 Livingston Avenue, Suite 100, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1958 USA. Telephone: (732) 932-4101, ext 673. Fax: (732) 932-0934. E-mail: mrg@rci.rutgers.edu I thank C. Zukin for providing the Star Ledger/Eagleton data ; M. Strausberg (Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ) for the Gallup data ; D. Schneider for her helpful comments ; and three anonymous reviewers for their suggestions. The analyses and interpretations of the data are the responsibility of the author. The author declares he has no competing financial interests. Received 6 August 2003 ; accepted 12 November 2003.
The full version of this article is available for free in HTML or PDF formats. |
