New poll: Overwhelming majority of Americans support protections for national monuments; oppose review

A new national poll released shows that Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of protections for national monuments, while a strong majority are opposed to President Trump’s executive order requiring Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to review national monuments created or expanded since 1996 to either be shrunk or revoked.

The poll, conducted by Global Strategy Group and GarinHartYang, found 75% of Americans want to continue to protect these monuments, while only 17% believe the review should even be conducted. Of the 75% that want to continue to protect America’s monuments, 67% were in strong support of the protection, with only 8% strongly supporting the review.

“Unlike President Trump and Secretary Zinke, the vast majority of Americans see no reason to open up iconic landscapes to private development,” said Chris Saeger, Executive Director of the Western Values Project. “This is another sign that this sham review is happening only to benefit a narrow range of special interests. It should never have started to begin with.”

The poll, conducted July 24 – 27, surveyed 1013 respondents with a plus or minus margin of error of 3.1%. Read the poll results here.

Join the effort to strengthen the American West.