California Voters and Elected Officials Strongly Support State’s Dairy Methane Reduction Efforts
A recent statewide and San Joaquin Valley voter survey demonstrated that California’s current incentive-based programs to reduce livestock methane are supported by over two-thirds of residents. As shown below, the current incentive programs are supported by 69% of voters statewide with 42% of voters “strongly” in support. Support is strongest among democrats (80%) and independent voters (73%).
These survey results show that voters share the views of state and local elected leaders who support the incentive-based approach. To date, all eight San Joaquin Valley counties are on record as fully supporting the existing incentive-based approach to climate smart agriculture generally, and dairy methane mitigation specifically. Additionally, more than 25 legislators, including nearly all San Joaquin Valley lawmakers, from both sides of the political aisle have urged the California Air Resource Board to stay the course on the incentive-based program and not move to direct regulation. Key Congressional representatives from the Valley have also chimed in to support the current programs.
Support for California's highly successful incentive-based approach to dairy methane reduction is clear and unmistakable. Two-thirds of voters (65%) statewide and three-quarters (72%) in the San Joaquin Valley oppose having the state directly regulate dairy farms and eliminate current incentive programs.
Opposition to other direct regulatory schemes is also widely unpopular, as follows:
79% oppose having government directly limit meat and dairy consumption
74% oppose placing a new tax on meat and dairy products
63% oppose limiting the number of dairy cows farmers can milk
58% oppose limiting the expansion of dairy farms
Voters also recognize farming and food production as essential to the state’s economy with 86% of voters describing the industry as “very important,” leading all industries by a wide margin. Finally, 64% of statewide voters believe their food prices would increase if incentives are eliminated. Concern about the cost of food is even higher among voters in the San Joaquin Valley, with 77% describing it as a crisis or very serious problem.
See Full Summary of Polling Results.
See State Legislature Support.
See SJ Valley Local Elected Support.
The survey was funded by Dairy Cares and conducted between May 2-6. Sextant Strategies and Research conducted the multimodal (live telephone and internet) survey among 1,200 California registered voters, including an oversample of 400 interviews in the San Joaquin Valley. Spanish-language interviews were conducted among respondents. The estimation error for the statewide results is 3.4% and 4.6% for the San Joaquin Valley results.
