Water conservation is main concern among Arizona voters, poll shows

Arizona voters show an unmoving concern about environmental conservation even as other issues become more pressing, according to a bipartisan poll released Wednesday.

In the poll, nearly 70% of respondents in Arizona said they would prefer members of Congress to place more emphasis on protecting water resources, wildlife habitat and air quality as opposed to producing energy through “responsible oil and gas drilling and mining” on public lands.

“High gas prices, increasing costs of living and water shortage concerns are not enough to move Arizonans to reconsider their consistent support for conservation policies or seek out short-sighted solutions that put land and water at risk,” said Katrina Miller-Stevens, an associate professor at Colorado College and director of the State of the Rockies Project.

For 13 years, the State of the Rockies Project has gauged public sentiment about conservation issues among voters in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The survey, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, is conducted across eight states by Republican and Democratic opinion research companies New Bridge Strategy and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates. The 2023 results were collected from Jan. 5-22.

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A 'core value' that remains consistent

Overall, voters in the intermountain West continue to see conservation issues as extremely or very serious problems.

"The big story is consistency," said Democratic pollster Dave Metz, president of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates.

"That is kind of encouraging, to think that the public has some real core value that they hold fast to despite some of these changing, temporary circumstances relating to politics and the economy," Metz said.

About 40% of Arizona respondents regarded both the rising cost of living and the low levels of water in rivers as an “extremely serious” issue.

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Concerns over other environmental problems have seen an uptick compared with previous years, said Republican pollster Lori Weigel, Principal of New Bridge Strategy.

Across the eight Western states, only 38% of respondents viewed the loss of wildlife habitat as a serious problem in 2011, compared to 52% today.

Only a quarter of all 2011 respondents said they viewed climate change as a very serious or extremely serious problem. Today it’s nearly half.

In Arizona, there was an equal number of respondents registered as Republican, Democrat and independent voters. Forty percent said they view themselves as moderate, 30% as conservative and 24% as liberal.

Environment creates Western identity

Water supply has been a consistent concern, although feelings have changed regarding how serious the issue is.

Inadequate water supplies were seen as a "very serious" or "extremely serious" problem by 75% of respondents in 2011 and by 86% today.

In Arizona this year, 40% of voters thought the biggest water users in the state are industry and business, followed by 31% attributing the highest use to farmers and ranchers, and 26% to households. Agriculture is the largest single user of water in Arizona.

The opinion was split on whether, as voters, they would support providing financial incentives to farmers so they can leave land unplanted during severe water shortages. Some 54% said they would.

Other approaches were broadly supported. Over 80% said they would support mandating water assessments before approving developmental projects, investing in water infrastructure, and increasing the use of recycled water, while 32% would strongly support prohibiting grass lawns for new development. Only 14% strongly opposed it.

Pollsters believe the consistent support for conservation measures is rooted in identity.

Public lands are perceived by respondents in the West as part of who they are, suggested Weigel. When asked what they like most about the places they live in, respondents said it's "overwhelmingly about the land."

In this sense, the consistency of poll results is not surprising, Metz added.

"I think it's really because these things are so central to peoples' quality of life in the West that they don't just sort of blow in the wind,” he said. “They're pretty stable in terms about what they want to protect about the places they live."

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Clara Migoya covers environment issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to clara.migoya@arizonarepublic.com.

Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and @azcenvironment on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona voters care about water conservation, poll shows