Environmental Views on the Rural to Urban Continuum

As climate change and other environmental issues continue to worsen in Utah and worldwide, understanding Utahns’ top concerns and their opinions about political leaders’ efforts to address these environmental issues is increasingly important. In the 2023 Utah People and Environment Poll (UPEP), a representative statewide sample of respondents were asked how concerned they were about a myriad of environmental problems in Utah including drought, the drying of the Great Salt Lake, poor air quality, population growth, climate change, and wildfires. Survey respondents were also asked to rate how well they believe politicians are addressing the same environmental issues. Looking at this data based on whether respondents live in rural, transitioning, and urban parts of the state allows us to examine how Utahns with differing experiences and vantage points see environmental issues and policymakers’ efforts to address them.