A new Winning the West 2020 poll released yesterday by the Center for Western Priorities shows an ‘Outdoor Voting Bloc’ in the Rocky Mountain West has cemented itself as an influential factor in election outcomes. The Winning the West poll and accompanying presentation — conducted in Colorado and also in Arizona, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico — reveal how issues involving public lands, parks, and wildlife play an outsized role in moving Colorado voters to the polls and influence how voters choose candidates.
Overwhelming majorities of voters in Colorado can be considered committed outdoor enthusiasts. 97 percent agree the mountains and outdoors are what makes living in their state special. They not only use public lands but care about how they are protected, with 55 percent of Colorado voters labeling themselves as “conservationists” and 65 percent who believe the U.S. needs to protect new deserving public lands. When it comes to voting priorities, 82 percent of voters in Colorado consider issues involving public lands, waters, and wildlife to be important when deciding whether to support a candidate for public office, outpacing climate change as a top concern.
“We continue to see the rise of public lands and the outdoors as an important issue in competitive races in the Mountain West,” said Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities. “Coloradans care deeply about our public lands and we vote on them. Against the backdrop of the current administration’s unpopular agenda on public lands, it will be worth watching to see if more candidates highlight an agenda of protecting Colorado’s outdoor way of life in their strategies to win.”
The poll found recent administration proposals on public lands are unpopular in Colorado. Overall, the administration’s approval rating among Colorado voters on public lands issues sits at 29 percent. The views on the administration’s public lands agenda were consistent across all five states surveyed and reflected in the responses of independent voters.
The Colorado voters surveyed oppose numerous administration policy proposals:
- Opening up new public lands to oil and gas development (61 percent)
- Rolling back environmental and safety regulations on oil and gas development (63 percent)
- Curbing regulations designed to reduce natural gas leaks from public lands development (64 percent)
- Reducing the size of national monuments, specifically significantly shrinking the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments (73 percent, including a majority of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents)
On energy issues, Colorado voters reject the prioritization of energy development over other public lands uses. 54 percent say the U.S. should stop issuing new oil and gas leases on public lands until the lands currently being leased, but without a well in use, are developed, against 15 percent who support issuing leases at the same levels. Similarly, 64 percent of Colorado voters say protecting our outdoor spaces should be given priority even at the risk of closing some land to future development, compared to 11 percent who take the opposite view.
Most voters in Colorado seek balance on energy development. 53 percent say oil and gas production should be allowed with strict limitations and regulations to ensure that land, wildlife, water, and public safety are protected first and foremost. More extreme positions were far less popular. 19 percent say oil and gas should be kept in the ground on public lands and companies should be prohibited from drilling on public lands. 11 percent say oil and gas development should be expanded on public lands to help the U.S. become energy independent as soon as possible.
Survey responses offered candidates guidance on messaging around public lands issues. When presented with two options, voters preferred to “limit” rather than “prohibit” oil and gas extraction on public lands by a margin of 68 percent to 47 percent. The poll also found voters in the West are moved by messages about respecting and protecting public lands, not by messages around deregulation and increased energy development.
The Winning the West poll was conducted in August and September by Gottlieb Strategic Research. It included 2,800 online surveys of likely voters in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico. The margin of error is +/- 2 percent for all voters and +/- 4.4 percent per state.
The complete Winning the West poll results for each of the five states surveyed are available at westernpriorities.org/winning-the-west-2020/.
Aaron Weiss is Media Director for the Center for Western Priorities.