American Voters Support Stronger Safeguards for Our Oceans, Poll Shows
Voters endorse action on single-use plastics, transparency in the seafood supply chain, North Atlantic right whales, and protections from offshore drilling
Press Release Date: July 24, 2024
Location: Washington, D.C.
Contact:
Megan Jordan | email: mjordan@oceana.org | tel: 202.868.4061
Oceana released the results of a new poll today revealing that American voters support addressing ocean issues like plastic pollution, illegal fishing, declining North Atlantic right whales, and offshore drilling. The national online poll, conducted for Oceana by the nonpartisan polling company Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®, surveyed 1,053 registered U.S. voters from June 28 to 30, 2024.
Some key findings from registered voters polled include:
Plastics
- 75% support national policies that reduce single-use plastic.
- 87% support policies to protect our rivers, lakes, and oceans from plastic pellet pollution.
- 84% support increasing the use of reusable packaging and food ware.
Seafood Traceability
- 91% agree that seafood caught using human trafficking and slave labor should NOT be bought or sold in the U.S.
- 87% support seafood products being required to be labeled with information like where it was caught, how it was caught, and what fish species it is on packaging.
- 85% agree that all seafood should be traceable from the fishing boat to the dinner plate, and 88% agree that consumers should be reassured that the seafood they purchase was legally caught.
North Atlantic Right Whales
- 86% agree that North Atlantic right whales should be protected from human-caused threats to help prevent their extinction.
- 83% agree that ocean activities that endanger North Atlantic right whales, like shipping, boating, and vertical-line fishing, should be adapted to protect them.
- 84% support creating mandatory slow zones in the ocean when North Atlantic right whales are present to save them from deadly boat strikes.
- 81% support the U.S. government making policy changes to save North Atlantic right whales from going extinct.
Climate and Energy
- 64% support their elected officials protecting U.S. coastlines from new offshore drilling, with similar support among registered voters in coastal states (66%). The poll also found this support grew among youth voters 18 to 29 years of age (70%).
“The results are in: American voters care about threats facing our oceans and support policy change to safeguard them,” said Beth Lowell, Oceana’s vice president for the United States. “Thriving oceans are essential to our economy, our health, and our livelihoods. Federal lawmakers should pay attention to the pulse of the American voters, who care about combatting plastic pollution, requiring transparency in the seafood supply chain, safeguarding North Atlantic right whales, and protecting our coast from offshore drilling. Our oceans face a variety of threats, and we need strong policies to take care of them so they can take care of us now and in the future.”
