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Poll: Voters In America's Heartland Don't Want Changes To National Monuments

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A survey of Trump voters in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin found majorities oppose his effort to shrink or decommission national monuments/BLM photo of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

While President Trump has promised a senator from Utah that he will shrink the boundaries of two national monuments in that state, voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan who voted for the president don't want him to do that, according to a new poll.

"In all four of the states -- Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – an overwhelming majority of Trump voters opposed potential rollbacks of these public land protections and designations," wrote David Kochel, a pollster for Red America Blue America Research, in a cover letter to the poll's findings. "In fact, large majorities in each state recommended President Trump instead create new national monuments or leave monuments as they are today."

President Trump directed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke back in April to review 27 national monuments, established as long ago as 1996, to determine whether their designations had been properly made under The Antiquities Act. The Interior secretary visited just eight of the 27, and in late August submitted to the president recommendations that included calls for reductions in the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, two national monuments in Utah.

The Grand Staircase-Escalante monument, designated by President Clinton in 1996, is 1.9 million acres in size, and has proved to hold a treasure trove of paleontological wonders. President Obama last year designated Bears Ears National Monument, which is roughly 1.3 million acres, and contains archaeological wonders from long ago civilizations; parts of the monument are considered sacred by Native Americans.

Curious about how Trump voters would view the president's move to alter national monuments, Wisconsin for Public Lands commissioned Red America Blue America Research to poll self-identified Trump voters in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to get their take on the issue.

"When asked if they would support the scaling back of America’s National Parks and Monuments and splitting up the lands for commercial development, broad majorities were opposed," wrote Mr. Kochel. "In all four states, more than two thirds of voters were opposed."

* In Pennsylvania and Ohio, 66 percent of self-identified Trump voters said they would be somewhat less or much less inclined to support a candidate who favored proposals like Secretary Zinke’s.

* In Michigan, 61 percent of voters felt that way.

* And in Wisconsin, 59 percent of self-identified Trump voters said they were somewhat less or much less inclined to support such a candidate.

Surveys were conducted October 21-30, 2017 via online survey. The results were weighted to ensure proportional response. The margin of error for these surveys is 4.4 percent.

Comments

I'm a voter in PA and a huge supporter of our NPs.  I don't have aproblem with it.  Let the people who live there have a say in it.


 Let the people who live there have a say in it.

 They do have a say, just like every other American. That doesn't mean, though, that they have the final say



This doesn't surprise me in the least. Conservatives love public lands, nature and the environment just as much as liberals. In fact I would say it is one of the failings of the conservative party to not always be mindful of that when it comes to their constituents. I also think some of that is due to the fact that no matter what they do they will be painted by liberals as nothing but destroyers of the environment so why even bother. The same can be said of many other issues where in fact the truth is something if not entirely different, certainly buried in all the rhetoric.


Wild, unfortunately in today's America that kind of idiocy travels in both directions.  We've completely forgotten how to sit down and try to communicate respectfully with our fellow citizens.   

We're in big trouble . . . . 


And, the Republicans continually demonstrating that they are bought and owned by the petroleum industry doesn't help the destroyer of the environment reputation.


This article was from 2015 during Obama.  What doesn't get represented here much are the people that for some have roots deep for several generations that have a lot of personal equity through trials and tough times and have endured.  They should be considered.

http://www.capitalpress.com/article/20151112/ARTICLE/151119966


"Wild, unfortunately in today's America that kind of idiocy travels in both directions. We've completely forgotten how to sit down and try to communicate respectfully with our fellow citizens.

We're in big trouble . . . . "

I couldn't agree more Lee


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