---
title: "More Republicans say stricter environmental regulations are ‘worth the cost’"
description: "Since 2017, the share of Republicans who take a positive view of stricter environmental laws has increased, from 36% then to 45% today. "
date: "2019-02-07"
authors:
  - name: "Haley Davie"
    job_title: "Intern"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/haley-davie/"
  - name: "J. Baxter Oliphant"
    job_title: "Senior Researcher "
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/baxter-oliphant/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/02/07/more-republicans-say-stricter-environmental-regulations-are-worth-the-cost/"
---

# More Republicans say stricter environmental regulations are ‘worth the cost’

[![Majority of Americans say stricter environmental laws are 'worth the cost'](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/02/FT_19.02.07_EnvironmentalRegulations_MajorityofAmericans_2.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/ft_19-02-07_environmentalregulations_majorityofamericans_2/)

The share of Americans who say stricter environmental laws and regulations are “worth the cost” has ticked up in recent years, with a significant shift coming among Republicans.

Today, 63% of U.S. adults say stricter environmental regulations are “worth the cost,” while 30% say such regulations “cost too many jobs and hurt the economy,” according to a new survey by Pew Research Center. [Two years ago](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2017/10/05/7-global-warming-and-environmental-regulation-personal-environmentalism/), the balance of opinion was narrower, as 59% said stricter environmental regulations were worth the cost, while 37% said they cost too many jobs.

Partisanship continues to be a major factor in opinions about tougher environmental laws, with Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents far more likely than Republicans and GOP leaners to view stricter laws and regulations as worth the cost.

But since 2017, the share of Republicans who take a positive view of stricter environmental laws has increased, from 36% then to 45% today. There has been little change in Democrats’ views in this period (77% then, 81% now).

Still, Republicans remain less supportive of stricter environmental laws and regulations than they were during the 1990s and much of the 2000s. In 2007, for example, 58% of Republicans said they were worth the cost.

[![GOP split along ideological lines in views of stricter environmental laws](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/02/FT_19.02.07_EnvironmentalRegulations_GOPsplit.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/ft_19-02-07_environmentalregulations_gopsplit/)

Republicans are divided ideologically over stricter environmental regulations. Among the roughly two-thirds of Republicans and Republican leaners [who describe their political views as conservative,](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/20/wide-gender-gap-growing-educational-divide-in-voters-party-identification/) 60% say stricter laws cost too many jobs and hurt the economy. Among the party’s moderates and liberals (who make up about a third of all Republicans and GOP leaners), 60% say stricter environmental laws are worth the cost.

Among Democrats and Democratic leaners, a larger majority of liberals (88%) than conservatives and moderates (74%) say stricter environmental laws are worth the cost.

There also are gender, age and educational differences in these attitudes. Women (69%) are more likely than men (58%) to say stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the cost. And while majorities in every age group say stricter environmental laws are worth it, a larger share of those ages 18 to 29 (72%) say this compared with those who are older than 50 (60%).

Positive views of environmental laws and regulations are also more common among adults with more education. Roughly three-quarters of those with a college degree or more (74%) say stricter environmental laws are worth the cost, compared with 59% of those without a college degree.

*Note: See [full topline results](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/FT_19.02.07_EnvironmentalRegulations_Topline.pdf) and methodology [here](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/01/24/methodology-215/). *