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The latest “Winning the West” poll from the Center for Western Priorities shows that public lands conservation remains a winning election issue for Western voters in Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada. Overwhelming majorities say that national public lands, parks, and wildlife issues are not only important to them but that these issues will play an influential role in how they choose to vote.
Heading into next year’s elections, 87 percent of Western voters—with strong majorities across parties—say a candidate’s support for conservation plays an influential role in how they choose to cast their ballots. Specifically, 71 percent of Western voters say they are more likely to support a candidate who prioritizes public lands from being taken over by private developers and oil and mining companies. 71 percent also say the same thing about a candidate who supports protecting and investing in national parks and monuments.
In regard to the Biden administration, 74 percent of Western voters say doing more to protect and conserve public lands, parks, wildlife, and national monuments would make them view the administration more favorably. That view is held by 93 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of Independents, and even 53 percent of Republicans.
Local monument proposals are popular among voters in the states surveyed. The poll found that 79 percent of voters in Arizona support the recently designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni–Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. 84 percent of voters in Colorado support the Dolores River Canyon Country national monument proposal, and 77 percent of voters in Nevada support the Bahsahwahbee national monument proposal (locally known as Swamp Cedars).
“Voters understand that one of the things that makes the Western way of life, the Nevada way of life, is that we care about these issues,” said Lindsey Vermeyen, senior vice president for Benenson Strategy Group, who conducted the poll. “We care about our public lands, and our monuments and protecting these things for future generations.”
Learn more at CWP's Winning the West website or download the poll results.
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Support for monuments in the abstract is strong, but support for specific monuments in each state is through the roof because folks in each state know the lands and they know what should be protected. I think monuments are where you really see bipartisanship come through. In Colorado, protecting a place like the Dolores River is not a Democrat or a Republican issue. It’s a Colorado issue.”
