Environmental and Natural Resource Development

• Attitudes about local forms of natural resource development do not appear to be impacted by the pandemic. Respondents’ views on various issues (e.g. renewables, oil and gas, and tourism) remained constant whether they reported that their lives were negatively impacted by the pandemic or not.

• Only four types of natural resource development received majority support from rural Westerners: Farming and ranching (81%) was strongest, followed by solar (67%), wind (59%), and tourism (57%). Weakest support was expressed for logging (41%), mining (35%), and oil and gas (40%). 

• Support for different types of natural resource development fell along the expected political divisions, with Republicans expressing far more support for extractive activities such as logging and mining than Democrats, and Democrats expressing far more support for clean energy such as wind and solar than Republicans.