Nineteen percent of Americans say they are an active participant in the environmental movement, while 42 percent are sympathetic but not active, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject.

The combined active/sympathetic group has declined some since Gallup first measured this in 2000, but, at 61 percent, it remains high.

Only 28 percent of the American public are neutral on the environment and only 10 percent are unsympathetic.

Americans who are most supportive of the environmental movement or its impact are the young (aged 18 to 34), those with college degrees, Democrats and self-described liberals.

While men and women are equally likely to believe the movement has done more good than harm, women are more likely to personally associate themselves with it.

In recent years Gallup’s annual environment survey has documented increased political polarization over environmental issues, particularly regarding global warming. In line with Republicans’ and conservatives’ increasing skepticism about the seriousness of global warming, these groups are now significantly less likely than Democrats, moderates, and liberals to be sympathetic toward the movement or to say it is doing more good than harm.

Tags: Image of Green Movement Still Positive, On 40th Earth Day

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Environment News, Public Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.