This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on federal government cuts, a new edition of Colorado College’s long-running “Conservation in the West” survey, and recent polling on extreme weather in California.

Headlines

The Economist + YouGov – Only small minorities want to cut the EPA or NWS, as Americans would rather cut or eliminate DOGE than the agencies it’s targeting [Topline, Crosstabs]

Colorado College – By an overwhelming margin, voters in Western states continue to prioritize conservation over fossil fuel extraction on public lands; nearly nine in ten oppose removing national monument protections [Website, Press Release, Topline]

[CA] Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) + Data for Progress – California voters blame climate change and corporate greed for the rise in their home insurance costs, and most support legislation that would enable individuals and insurance companies to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for climate-related damages [Release, Crosstabs]

Key Takeaways

Public lands protections continue to have overwhelming, cross-partisan support. The latest edition of Colorado College’s “Conservation in the West” poll finds that voters in Western states overwhelmingly want their members of Congress to focus on conserving public lands rather than maximizing fossil fuel extraction on them. The idea of shrinking national monuments, as Trump did in his first term, is particularly toxic to voters. Around nine in ten, including more than four in five Republicans, say that existing national monument designations should be kept in place.

If Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum move forward with their plan to redraw national monument boundaries, there will likely be more opportunity to mobilize cross-partisan opposition to it than to any other environmental action that the administration takes in these early months.

There remains little public appetite for cutting agencies that deal with the climate and environment. Polls continue to find that Americans would rather expand, or at the very least maintain, funding for most of the agencies that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is targeting. This includes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Weather Service (NWS), as The Economist and YouGov find that one-quarter of Americans or fewer want to see cuts to these agencies. In fact, more Americans want to see each of these agencies expanded than to see them reduced or eliminated.

Good Data Points to Highlight

• [EPA] Only 25% of Americans want to reduce or eliminate the EPA, while 28% want to expand it and 33% want it to be kept the same [The Economist + YouGov]
• [NWS] Only 11% of Americans want to reduce or eliminate the National Weather Service, while 20% want to expand it and 55% want it to be kept the same [The Economist + YouGov]
• [West + Public Lands] 89% of voters in Western states say that existing national monument designations should be kept in place [Colorado College]
• [West + Public Lands] 72% of voters in Western states oppose removing protections on public lands to allow more drilling, mining and other development [Colorado College]
• [West + Public Lands] 60% of voters in Western states oppose expanding the amount of national forest and other public lands available to private companies for commercial logging [Colorado College]
• [West + Climate Action] 72% of voters in Western states support the U.S. government taking action to reduce the carbon pollution that contributes to climate change [Colorado College]
• [West + Climate Action] 71% of voters in Western states support the U.S. government taking action to ensure the reliability of water supplies that may be threatened by climate change [Colorado College]
• [West + Wildlife] 63% of voters in Western states oppose reducing protections for some of the rare plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act [Colorado College]