For Earth Day: Americans Think All Three Presidential Candidates Would Do a Better Job Handling the Environment Than President Bush Has Done

Democratic Candidates are Perceived to be Better than Senator McCain

With the arrival of Earth Day 2008 and the ongoing presidential election, it is interesting to compare how the current president is perceived as handling the environment and how his possible replacements are perceived as handling it if they were president. Just over one-quarter of Americans (28%) give President Bush positive ratings on his handling of the environment over his term while almost two-thirds (64%) give him negative ratings.

Not surprisingly, Republicans are more likely to give him positive ratings (58% positive versus 35% negative) and Democrats negative ratings (83% negative and 10% positive). Independents, however, are more closely aligned with Democrats on this issue. Seven in ten Independents (71%) give the president negative marks on his handling of the environment while one in five (22%) give him positive ones.

These are some of the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,529 U.S. adults surveyed online between April 7 and 15, 2008 by Harris Interactive®.

The Candidates

Looking at the three Senators vying to replace President Bush, the two Democrats are perceived as doing a better job on the environment if they were elected president. Just under half say Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (47% each) would do a positive job on the environment while one-third (33%) say John McCain would do a positive job. One-third (32%) give a possible Obama presidency negative ratings on the environment, while a possible Clinton presidency and the environment is perceived negatively by 35 percent of Americans. Just under half (45%) give a possible McCain presidency negative ratings on the environment.

Looking at it by party, two-third of Democrats believe both Hillary Clinton (67%) and Barack Obama (66%) would do a positive job on the environment while half (50%) of Republicans feel the same about John McCain. While the two Democratic candidates each get about two-thirds of Liberals saying they would do a positive job on the environment (68% for Obama and 67% for Clinton), only two in five Conservatives (43%) say the same about John McCain.

So What?

The environment and global warming are issues that concern many people but, at this time, they are not nearly as important as the economy, Iraq or health care. In so far as they become significant issues in the election, these findings suggest they will be somewhat helpful to the Democratic candidate. This poll does not tell us whether Senator McCain’s lower scores reflect perceptions of Republicans in general or of McCain personally or if he is hurt by President Bush’s negative ratings on the environment.

Methodology

The Harris Poll® was conducted online within the United States between April 7 and 15, 2008, among 2,529 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology and data tables are available. J33558
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About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms.

Harris Interactive Inc. 4/08
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Tracey McNerney, 585-214-7756