--- description: Americans care less about environmental issues than they have in the past, a new poll shows. title: Americans Don't Care That Much About the Environment, Poll Shows image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f490c9690b1b37f/6987853b5f570f5318b15ee1/environment-leaf.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Environment](/tag/environment/) ## Environment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Americans Don't Care That Much About the Environment, Poll Shows ## Video: Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life [Watch (HLS stream): Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8) (4:03)  _Published 2014-03-12. Conservationists and scientists have a saying, "extinction is forever." But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to "DE-extinction is forever."_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 25, 2015 7:37 PM CUT  Rain drops on green leaf Rain drops on green leafGetty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 25, 2015 7:37 PM CUT Americans care less about environmental issues now than they have in the past—and they’re no more worried about global warming than they were decades ago, [a new poll shows](http://www.gallup.com/poll/182105/concern-environmental-threats-eases.aspx?utm%5Fsource=Politics&utm%5Fmedium=newsfeed&utm%5Fcampaign=tiles "undefined"). The Gallup survey released on Wednesday shows Americans were more concerned about the environment in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but interested dropped off in the early 2000s. Since then it’s remained close to historic lows. And when it comes to global warming specifically, Americans are no more worried now than they were in 1989. In the recent survey, which questioned 1,025 U.S. adults in early March, Americans reported feeling the most concerned about drinking polluted water and least worried about global warming. In 1989, 35% of the men and women surveyed said they cared a great deal about climate change, but only 32% said the same thing in 2015\. Even when it came to polluted water, just 55% of Americans reported caring a great deal, down from 65% in 1990. Gallup notes that the state of the economy could play a roll in how concerned Americans are about the environment. Americans tend to give environmental concerns a higher priority when the economy is doing well, Gallup says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3758465/americans-dont-care-environment-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3758465/americans-dont-care-environment-poll/"},"headline":"Americans Don't Care That Much About the Environment, Poll Shows","datePublished":"2015-03-25T19:37:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:26:16.724Z","description":"Americans concerns near record lows","url":"https://time.com/3758465/americans-dont-care-environment-poll/","keywords":["Environment","global warming","Pollution","Americans","Gallup"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f490c9690b1b37f/6987853b5f570f5318b15ee1/environment-leaf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f490c9690b1b37f/6987853b5f570f5318b15ee1/environment-leaf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rain drops on green leaf","caption":"Rain drops on green leaf","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3758465/americans-dont-care-environment-poll/","name":"Americans Don't Care That Much About the Environment, Poll Shows"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life","description":"Conservationists and scientists have a saying, \"extinction is forever.\" But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to \"DE-extinction is forever.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7mURxfr4/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-12T14:27:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3758465/americans-dont-care-environment-poll/","duration":"PT4M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3758465/americans-dont-care-environment-poll/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```