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A new Winning the West 2020 poll 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 for the third consecutive election cycle in Colorado, Montana, and Nevada, and for the second time in Arizona and New Mexico—reveal how issues involving public lands, parks, and wildlife play an outsized role in moving Western voters to the polls and influence how voters choose candidates.
Overwhelming majorities of voters in the Mountain West are committed outdoor enthusiasts. 93 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 51 percent of Western voters labeling themselves as “conservationists” and 61 percent who believe the U.S. needs to protect new deserving public lands. When it comes to voting priorities, 78 percent of voters in the West 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.
Report raises alarms on attacks to federal science
A bipartisan report released by New York University warns of the marked increase of threats to scientific integrity under the Trump administration. The report mentions a policy letter forwarded to U.S. Customs and Border Protection from the Interior Department that deleted concerns from biologists about the border wall’s effects on wildlife.
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We continue to see the rise of public lands and the outdoors as an important issue in competitive races in the Mountain West. Westerners 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 the West’s outdoor way of life in their strategies to win.”
