While trust in the federal government is generally low among the American people, apparently this is not the case when it comes to providing remedies for water shortages and flooding.
The latest Mood of the Nation Poll finds that a majority of Americans support government involvement both in determining water allocations to areas short on water supply and in providing insurance to homeowners in flood-prone areas. This stands in contrast to an earlier Mood of the Nation Poll finding that less than 30% trust the “government in Washington to do what is right” either “just about always” or “most of the time.”
More specifically, the poll finds that nearly half of Americans think the federal government should play a major role in determining water allocations in parts of the country that are experiencing water scarcity. About half also support individual state governments playing a major role, and 40% support a major role for multi-state commissions.
On flooding, respondents were presented with four hypothetical proposals responding to the very real situation of insurance companies refusing to provide flood insurance to homeowners in especially high-risk areas. Strong majorities support federal government involvement including federal flood insurance — either subsidized or unsubsidized — and federal relocation of flooded homeowners. The proposal of “the federal government should not provide any sort of flood insurance to homeowners” received much less support.
Mood of the Nation Poll Director and Penn State professor of Political Science and Sociology Dr. Eric Plutzer observed, “In the abstract, many Americans will say that taxes are too high and the federal government is too large. But for challenges resulting from changing climate and extreme weather, large majorities of Democrats, Independents, and even Republicans support tax-supported efforts by the federal to protect homeowners in vulnerable areas.”