Using The Gallup Organization Brain to Understand Conservation Opinions in Missouri

The Gallup Organization has useful survey results. An online resource that I use frequently is provided by The Gallup Organization. They have an extensive list of polling results organized in an alphabetical list.

Or, the "Gallup Brain" is a database of questionnaires and opinion results. They describe the Gallup Brain as "a searchable, living record of 70 years of public opinion. Inside, you'll find answers to more than 136,000 questions, and responses from more than 3.5 million people interviewed by The Gallup Poll since 1935." Much of the information in the database requires a paid subscription, although there are a wide variety of reports and updates of current issues that are available without cost.

For example, in an article titled "The People's Priorities: Gallup's Top 10" they list the top 10 priorities that are the "American public's priorities for their elected representatives in Washington -- the men and women sent to the nation's capital to do the people's bidding. The Top 10 Priorities list is based on an analysis of open-ended responses to questions asking Americans to name the top priorities for the government and to name the most important problem facing the nation today, plus a series of additional questions in which Americans rate the priorities of the issues and concerns facing the nation today."

I compare the opinions of the American public with the opinions of Missourians. I find it useful to compare results from surveys conducted in Missouri for the Missouri Department of Conservation with the results reported by Gallup.

I noted in the Gallup list of the top 10 priorities that the environment is listed tenth.

The Gallup commentary describes the American public's opinions about environmental issues as "the environment is not highly likely to be mentioned spontaneously by Americans as a top problem facing the United States at this time, and has a low top-of-mind presence when the public is asked about priorities for government. The environment is seen as more important when Americans respond to a prompted list of issues. Americans willingly say the government is doing too little to protect the environment. Many worry about environmental conditions. A significant majority believes that the quality of the environment is getting worse, not better. While there has been an increase in Americans' general concern about the environment and awareness of global warming, their willingness to compromise economic growth or energy production in the furtherance of environmental quality has not grown."

Further, the commentary concludes that "the environmental policy initiatives Americans would most welcome would appear to be those with the most direct impact: maintaining the safety of drinking water, curbing toxic waste, and improving water and air quality."

Missourians support conservation. In Missouri, there are some similar feelings about the environment as the results from Gallup and yet some differences also. In an earlier post, I showed results for Missourians and their opinions about some conservation issues in Missouri. When asked about several conservation issues, Missourians indicated that they worry the most about drinking water pollution, pollution of rivers, streams, and lakes, air pollution, and the loss of natural habitat for wildlife. And like the Gallup results, conservation tasks may not be exactly at the top of many Missourians priority list, since in a survey conducted in 2000, only a few Missourians could agree on any one thing that the Department of Conservation could do to better serve them.

In a 2003 survey in Missouri, a majority of Missourians, 55 percent, agreed with the statement "I approve of protecting wildlife, unless it hurts the economic livelihood of people who make a living off the land" yet only 22 percent of Missourians agreed with the statement "I approve of filling wetlands if the land can be used to produce more jobs and income."

Regarding forests, 94 percent of Missourians approve of cutting trees to remove diseased or dying trees and 91 percent approve of cutting trees to improve forest health yet only 31 percent of Missourians approve of cutting trees to produce income for landowners.

Overall, 91 percent of Missourians agree that "it is important for outdoor places to be protected even if you don't plan to visit the area."

Clearly the Gallup results seem to match some of the general opinions of Missourians. On the other hand, the support for some issues in the Missouri survey results indicate that Missourians do support environmental issues differently than the general American public. And the overwhelming support in previous elections in Missouri, for conservation, in addition to recent continued support in elections for parks and soils, is a clear sign that Missourians recognize the benefits of conservation tasks.

I'll keep using the Gallup brain and their survey reports to compare with Missouri results as a way to better understand what Missourians are thinking about conservation.