Americans Apparently Like Clean Air, Water, But Can't Be Bothered To Vote Accordingly

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Americans care about the environment, but they don't usually vote that way in elections for president or Congress. Compared to voters in Europe, where the Green Party is a political force and global climate change is part of the public dialogue, U.S. voters in national elections tend to cast their ballots based on candidates' stances on the Iraq war, the economy and health care -- not on environmental policy.

Only about 3 percent of U.S. voters in recent exit polls said the environment was the most important issue to them in casting their ballots, according to Karlyn Bowman, who tracks public opinion polling for the American Enterprise Institute. That makes it a significant single issue, but far behind the hot-button issue of abortion, which between 9 percent and 13 percent of U.S. voters said was most important to them. This may be because Americans reckon the question about what the country wants in terms of the environment has long ago been settled, Bowman said.

EDIT

Most Americans do consider the environment important, according to Michael Bell, an environmental sociologist at the University of Wisconsin. Bell noted polling since 1983 shows a consistent high level of public support for environmental issues.

But he said few politicians make this a highlight of their campaigns, so voters leaving the polling booth are unlikely to list the environment as the reason they cast a ballot for a particular candidate, Bell said.

EDIT

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N29264871.htm

[Union Thug]

1. "Most Americans do consider the environment important..."

But not as important as buying crap on credit cards or driving unnecessarily large trucks and SUVs.

[depakid]

2. Since environmental issues (or science in general)

gets almost ZERO airtime on the consolidated corporate media, that's hardly a surprise.

And unless and until the media corporations are divested and re-regulated, I don't expect that to change.