Benjamin Spillman

bspillman@rgj.com

Updated to include response from Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev.

If bitter political fighting is tearing your Facebook feed apart at the seams, take heart.

There’s at least one issue that does more to unite than divide voters in the western United States; public lands.

Polling from seven western states shows Democrats, Republicans and independent voters have similar interests when it comes to federally managed public land.

The poll, conducted through the Colorado College State of the Rockies project and led by Democratic and Republican consultants, measured the attitudes of voters in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

And the results showed that, despite the volume of political vitriol on social media, most people who responded want the same thing.

“The overwhelming sentiment voters are expressing is wanting to protect and preserve public lands,” said David Metz, the Democratic pollster on the project.

“It was more striking where we saw agreement than where we saw big differences,” Republican pollster Lori Weigel said.

The results suggest public lands bills that transfer land from the federal government to states, increase fossil fuel development on public land or erode protection for air, water, land and wildlife would be out of step with public opinion. In contrast, statements from Republican President Donald Trump during the campaign and his interior secretary nominee Ryan Zinke in opposition to land transfers were popular among Republicans and Democrats.

Across the seven states 70 percent of respondents identified themselves as “conservationists,” an increase of 7 percent from a similar poll a year earlier. In Nevada that number was 67 percent, an increase from 61 percent a year prior.

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., downplayed the relevance of the poll results. Amodei is seeking to reintroduce a modified version of a bill he sponsored in the prior Congressional session that would have transferred as many as 7 million acres in Nevada from the federal government to the state, and possibly more in a subsequent phase.

In a written statement Amodei suggested the poll was skewed toward Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, and isn't part of his district.

"While I’m always interested in, and work on many Southern Nevada Issues, give me a call when those great Americans in (Colorado Springs) Colorado sample 400 folks in Nevada’s CD-2," the statement read in part. "That’s who expect and deserve to be my priority on federal issues."

The breakdown of people polled in Nevada showed 33 percent Republicans, 40 percent Democrats and 26 percent independents or other, which closely mirrors statewide voter registration.

Interesting stuff. I know we don’t need to go over all the state of affairs in the polling business these days. Remember? Mitt Romney was going to win. So was Hillary Clinton. As you know, I represent 25 percent of the population of the state of Nevada. My district is quite a bit different than Clark County. While I’m always interested in, and work on many Southern Nevada Issues, give me a call when those great Americans in (Colorado Springs) Colorado sample 400 folks in Nevada’s CD-2. That’s who expect and deserve to be my priority on federal issues. -- Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev.

Pollsters also gave respondents two choices and asked them to pick one as a priority. The first choice was to “protect sources of clean water, our air quality and wildlife habitat while providing opportunities to visit and recreate on public lands.”

The second choice was to “produce more domestic energy by increasing the amount of national public lands available for responsible oil and gas drilling and mining.”

When picking 68 percent of respondents chose protecting natural resources and access and 22 percent preferred an increase in responsible energy development.

“We had a strong positive reaction to that approach for federal management of public lands,” Weigel said.

Voters also mostly agreed when it came time to rank priorities for the incoming Trump administration.

Improving and repairing roads, bridges and historic buildings in national parks and other outdoor destinations was most popular, 71 percent gave it strong support and 23 percent moderate support for a total of 94 percent in favor.

Allowing more wind and solar energy development won support from 80 percent of respondents. Improving access for hunters, anglers and hikers won support from 82 percent. Promoting tourism on national public land and domestic manufacturing of outdoors equipment won support from 79 percent and 67 percent favored making it easier for guides to get permits for hunting and rafting on public land.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, said during a conference call to discuss the results that it showed bipartisan support for preserving the natural and recreation values of public land.

“Our public lands also happen to be good business,” Bullock said. “Employees and employers alike want to live and work close to where they can play.”

Respondents also largely agreed on what they opposed.

When asked about allowing oil and gas companies to purchase the right to drill in new areas of national public lands 62 percent opposed and 34 percent supported. When asked about increased coal mining on public lands 63 percent opposed and 33 percent supported.

Respondents of all stripes supported a statement from Trump himself opposing transfers of federal land to the states, a hot-button issue in Congress.

Among Republicans, 67 percent approved of keeping public land within the federal government, 57 percent of Democrats agreed.

Weigel attributed the Democrats’ less enthusiastic response to a Trump statement as a “partisan hangover” from the election.

Respondents also widely supported an Obama-era regulation that requires methane gas operations to “use updated equipment and technology to prevent leaks of gas during the extraction process and reduce the need to burn off excess natural gas into the air.”

Among Republicans and independents 84 percent favored maintaining the regulation while 76 percent of Democrats were in favor.

The survey also included a Nevada-specific question.

It described the recently designated Gold Butte National Monument near Lake Mead as having “protections for natural areas and water similar to those in national parks,” and stated “the public can go there to view wildlife and American Indian artifacts, camp, hike, hunt or ride ATVs” and that it, “would not allow new mining or oil and gas development.”

Respondents were asked if were a good or bad thing and 63 percent said it was a good thing and 13 percent said it was bad.

The ratio of Democratic, Republican and independent voters polled in Nevada was nearly identical to the ratio among registered voters in the state. The Nevada portion of the results had a margin for error of 4.9 percent. The error margin for the seven states combined was 2.74 percent.