The 15th annual Colorado College State of the Rockies Project Conservation in the West Poll shows voters in eight Mountain West states overwhelmingly support land conservation over energy production, despite a new presidential administration promising expanded oil and gas development.
The 2025 bipartisan poll, which surveyed the views of 400 registered voters from January 3-17 in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada, shows the highest margins in the poll’s 15-year history to prioritize conservation.
“The consensus favoring public lands conservation remains consistent and strong in the West,” said Katrina Miller-Stevens, Former Director of the State of the Rockies Project and an Associate
Professor of Economics at CC. “Westerners do not want to see a rollback of national monument
protections and there is no mandate for oil and gas development. Voters from all political ideologies are united in support of public land conservation in the West.”
Western voters continue to express concern about issues related to land, water, and wildlife. Strong majorities of those polled – including self-identified MAGA voters – support policies that focus on the protection and conservation of public lands and oppose policies that would open public lands up to drilling, mining, or other development.
Overall, 72 percent of westerners prefer their elected officials place more emphasis on protecting clean water sources, air quality, and wildlife habitat while providing opportunities to visit and recreate on public lands. By contrast, only 24 percent prefer maximizing the amount of public lands available for responsible oil and gas production. Among MAGA voters, 51 percent favor protecting public lands while 44 percent favor oil and gas production.
The first Trump administration reduced the size of national monuments, an unpopular decision in the West at the time. Reducing or removing monument protections is even more unpopular now, with 89 percent of voters opposing the idea, compared to 80 percent when the question was asked in 2017.
Similarly, proposals to give state governments control over national public lands are more unpopular now, with 65 percent of westerners in opposition, compared to 2017 when 56 percent were opposed.
The poll is broken down by state, political party, generation, and ethnicity. For a comprehensive look at all of the data, check out the full 2025 Conservation in the West Poll.