US partisan gap on environment widens after Trump's election

The partisan gap between Republicans and Democrats on their views on the quality of U.S. environment has widened since Donald Trump won presidency last November, according to a new Gallup poll.

While 64 percent of Republicans say quality of environment is "excellent" or "good," only 37 percent of Democrats say the same, found the March 1-5 poll. The 27-point difference is the highest since 2009, according to Gallup.

Meanwhile, 53 percent of Republicans say environment is improving, while only 22 percent of Democrats agree, it discovered.

The 11-point increase from 2016 to 2017 among Republicans saying the environment is "excellent" or "good" is the largest year-to-year change in Republicans' environmental ratings since 2001 when Gallup began doing the poll.

At the same time, Democrats' assessment of the environment as "excellent" or "good" is relatively unchanged in the recent poll. Democrats have traditionally been less positive about the environment than Republicans have, Gallup said.

Overall, Americans' environmental sentiments have changed very little. Forty-six percent of Americans say the environment is currently "excellent" or "good," according to Gallup.

Trump, a Republican, has started rolling back environmental regulations since taking office in January to deliver his campaign promises and rally Republicans' sentiments about the quality of the environment.

Source: Xinhua