In his first year back in office, President Donald Trump made it clear that rolling back environmental protections was a priority, freezing funds, cutting extreme weather preparedness, and weakening pollution protections.
However, despite the administration’s ongoing opposition to environmental laws, Americans are largely united when it comes to reinstating or strengthening ecological standards.
A new study from the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan advocacy organization, found that six-in-ten Americans believe stricter environmental laws and regulations are “worth the cost.”
The survey, which polled 36,908 U.S. adults across all 50 states, showed a national majority of support. Opinions did vary from state to state, with residents from D.C. and Minnesota having the strongest support for tougher environmental regulations at 71%.
This latest research followed a 2024 Pew Research poll that found that the public’s trust in scientists was on the rise, with three-quarters of Americans saying they had a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public.
In a panel discussion with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Alec Tyson, the former associate director of research at Pew Research Center, emphasized that the public’s rising confidence was most marked among Republicans.
“Confidence in scientists to act in the best interest of the public [among Republicans] is up five points in the last year,” Tyson said. “That's a statistically significant uptick and the first increase we've seen among Republicans since the pandemic.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the Environment Edition of the Goodnewspaper
Header image via NPS / Jacob W. Frank (Public Domain)
