--- title: Climate Change: Donald Trump Environment Policies Unpopular description: The majority of Americans oppose President Donald Trump's plan to eliminate environmental regulations that combat climate change canonical: https://time.com/4665481/donald-trump-environment-dergulation/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-09T19:18:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:16:22.082Z article:section: Science og:title: Americans Oppose President Trump's Environmental Deregulation, Poll Says og:description: But that hasn't stopped his aggressive attempts to undo environmental regulation og:url: https://time.com/4665481/donald-trump-environment-dergulation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d60ef4550faa709/6988b995cd1bbad3ee703eed/climate-change-environment-donald-trump-poll.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: climate change environment donald trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Americans Oppose President Trump's Environmental Deregulation, Poll Says twitter:description: But that hasn't stopped his aggressive attempts to undo environmental regulation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d60ef4550faa709/6988b995cd1bbad3ee703eed/climate-change-environment-donald-trump-poll.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Americans Oppose President Trump's Environmental Deregulation, Poll Says > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=82b8cbbe-ef19-421d-9e0c-7084067fdb0e&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Trump Presidency and the Future of Climate Change [Watch (HLS stream): A Trump Presidency and the Future of Climate Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/U3bhooK6.m3u8) (2:27)  _Published 2016-11-15. Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated that environmentalism is not his priority. Now, Climate scientists, policymakers and diplomats are questioning how his presidency will shape the future of climate change policy._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 9, 2017 7:18 PM UTC Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated that environmentalism is not his priority. Now, Climate scientists, policymakers and diplomats are questioning how his presidency will shape the future of climate change policy.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 9, 2017 7:18 PM UTC The majority of Americans oppose [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/)‘s plan to eliminate environmental regulations that combat [climate change](http://time.com/4663995/republicans-gop-climate-change-council/), according to a new [poll](https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2428), underscoring skepticism about an oft-repeated promise the campaign trail. The Quinnipiac University poll shows that 61% of Americans oppose removing regulations that combat climate change, with remaining 29% supporting the rollback. Trump has aggressively pursued deregulation in the environmental area during his first weeks in office, working with Congress to undo a slew of [rules](http://www.npr.org/2017/02/01/512799986/republican-lawmakers-take-steps-to-repeal-environmental-regulations) recently implemented under former President Barack Obama. The Clean Power Plan, Obama’s most significant domestic measure to fight climate change, remains on the books, though Trump promised during the campaign to undo it. The poll also found that 50% of Americans oppose reviving the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, compared to 40% who support the pipelines. Trump has already taken decisive action on both, directing the Army to issue the final permit for the [Dakota Access Pipeline](http://time.com/4548566/dakota-access-pipeline-standing-rock-sioux/) and inviting the company behind [Keystone XL](http://time.com/4102868/president-obama-rejects-keystone-xl-pipeline/) to reapply for a permit rejected under the Obama Administration. Most Republican elected officials at the federal level have rebuffed efforts to launch a full-throated effort to address climate change, but some have argued that the party is out of step with the American public on the issue. A [group](http://time.com/4663995/republicans-gop-climate-change-council/) of Republican elder statesmen on Wednesday proposed a carbon tax as an alternative to the Clean Power Plan. Their announcement noted the broad scientific consensus that the issue must be addressed urgently, as well as the discrepancy between party orthodoxy and the views of the general public. The national survey of more than 1,100 voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. ## Transcript [00:00] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:03] Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax. It'll [00:05] get cooler, it'll get warmer. It's called weather. Now [00:07] that he's President- elect, here's what at stake for the [00:09] future of the environment. Thank you. Paris Agreement [00:13] which was negotiated last year and came into effect [00:16] just a few weeks ago was a monumental step for [00:19] addressing climate change. And setting a path forward [00:22] for the coming decades to reduce greenhouse gas [00:24] emissions. Donald Trump has promised to cancel the [00:27] Paris agreement, or at the very least, renegotiate it. [00:30] Stop all payments of the United States tax dollars to UN [00:35] Global Warming Programs. He does not have the [00:37] authority to cancel it. It's an agreement with more than [00:41] 190 countries. He also doesn't have the power to [00:44] withdraw from it. Immediately at least, it would take at [00:47] least three years to go through those processes. He [00:50] does have the power to ignore it. It's unlikely that other [00:54] countries will feel comfortable making big reductions in [00:56] their greenhouse gas emissions, if the United States is [00:59] not taking the lead. Another policy at stake is Obama's [01:02] clean power plan. [ APPLAUSE ] Single most [01:07] important step America has ever taken in the fight [01:10] against global Climate change. Trump has said that he [01:12] would cancel it. Environmental Protection, what they do [01:16] is a disgrace. Every week they come out with new [01:18] regulations. He has the authority to do that. He could [01:20] direct the EPA to eliminate the clean power plan. We'll [01:24] be fine with the environment. We can leave a little bit, [01:27] but you can't destroy businesses He will definitely if he [01:30] does face litigation from environmental groups that will [01:34] argue that it's the EPA's role to do that. It's a long [01:38] winding process. And certainly not something that he's [01:40] going to be able to accomplish in his first 100 days. [01:45] Environmentalists are trying to remain Optimistic and [01:47] looking at a lot of the market trends that have resulted [01:50] in the reduction in coal power and other greenhouse [01:55] gas emissions. A lot of it is outside of the realm of [01:57] regulation. But also trying to stay optimistic about the [02:01] Paris agreement. Some of them say even if Donald [02:04] Trump Withdraws, they are confident that other [02:06] countries will step up to the plate. I'm 16 years old [02:09] from Mwanza, Tanzania. Looking forward, there's a lot [02:11] of things that Trump can do to slow progress on [02:14] climate change, but many of the trends he doesn't [02:16] have control over. So there is reason for optimism if [02:20] you're looking in the long- term. 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