Nevada may have jolted to the right in giving its electoral votes to Donald Trump in November, but a new poll shows that most state voters still care deeply about climate change, water and public lands management.

The 15th annual Colorado College Conservation in the West Poll explored how voters feel about environmental issues. As the Trump administration takes aim at national monument protections and seeks to increase oil production, researchers found that more than half of voters in Western states don’t support such policies — regardless of party affiliation.

Neither the White House nor Nevada’s sole Republican congressman, Rep. Mark Amodei, responded Wednesday to a request for comment on the poll.

Even though Nevada chose a Republican presidential candidate for the first time in two decades, common ideals associated with the West remain the same, said David Metz, a polling expert from FM3 Research.

“It would be a mistake to think that the votes cast were mandates for significant policy change,” Metz said in a press briefing Wednesday. “Voters are generally happy with the way that public lands are being managed, and they would much rather continue to preserve something that they see as so critical to their quality of life, as opposed to a radically different direction.”

What did voters say?

The study surveyed at least 400 voters in each of eight Western states, totaling 3,316 voters. Nevada’s sample included a near-even split between those who identify as Republican, Democrat or neither.

The policy of removing national monument designations or reducing the size of them was unpopular among Nevadans, with 92% of voters opposing the idea, compared with 82% of voters who said that in January 2017, when Trump took office the first time.

Trump’s Interior Department is in the process of reviewing national monuments designated under previous presidents — and may again recommend reductions, as his administration did during his first term. According to the poll, 66% of Nevadans oppose removing protections for parts of existing national public lands to allow more drilling, mining and other development.

“There’s really no subgroup within any of the data that is saying: ‘No, we ought to remove those designations,’” said Lori Weigel, a polling researcher with New Bridge Strategy, a Colorado-based firm.

Trump-era lands management unpopular

Another finding showed that even the more controversial federal agencies that manage public lands and waters in the West are popular.

Across all the states, the National Park Service was the most popular — with 86% of voters approving of the agency’s actions. On Valentine’s Day, the park service laid off 20% of the staff that manages Great Basin National Park, Nevada’s only national park.

The least popular was the Environmental Protection Agency, which still had 61% of voters saying they are supportive.

“These lands are part of people’s day-to-day lives, and so when they think about what should be done with them, it’s really through that lens of their own direct personal experience,” Metz said. “As a result, it’s perhaps not surprising that … the public is overwhelmingly approving of their work.”

Though the Trump administration has emphasized increasing oil drilling on public lands, the poll shows that only 26% of Nevadans want their elected officials to prioritize oil and gas production.

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