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Editor’s note: This is the second story in a two-part series on Americans’ experiences with and perceptions of severe weather events. 

Storms, heat, drought, floods and wildfires all common experiences in 2023

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 percent 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 percent 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.”

Water allocations: Larger proportions of Democrats, Black and Latino Americans, younger generations, and those living in southwestern states favor federal involvement

There are not dramatic differences between most large groups of Americans in support for the role played by individual state governments, multistate commissions or organizations supporting farming and industry in determining water allocations. There are, however, a few notable differences in the level of support for the federal government’s role. 

Most notably, Democrats are nearly twice as likely than Republicans (60 percent compared to 35 percent) to say that the federal government should play a major role in determining water allocation.

Similarly, a higher proportion of Black and Latino Americans indicate support for the federal government playing a major role in water allocation than is the case among white Americans (66 percent and 57 percent compared to 41 percent).  

Additionally, over half of those in the younger generations — Generation Z and Millennials — support the federal government playing a major role in allocating scarce water, while around two in five among Generation X and Baby Boomers support a major role for the federal government. A higher proportion of those living in the nation’s arid southwestern states also favor the federal government playing a major role in water allocations.

Flood insurance: Majorities support federally subsidized flood insurance, but support is strongest among Democrats, Black Americans and Latino Americans

We checked for differences in support for each of the four proposed responses to flooding across a variety of major demographic groups and, in nearly all cases, at least half supported the three proposals indicating federal involvement (subsidized federal insurance, federally subsidized relocation, and unsubsidized federal flood insurance).

Similarly, fewer than 40 percent of all groups we looked at supported the proposal “The federal government should not provide any sort of flood insurance to homeowners.” The exception was the 41 percent of Republicans who supported that proposal.

Given the margins of error associated with a survey of this nature, the only notable group-level differences on these questions followed lines of gender, race and ethnicity, and political affiliation.

A majority of Republicans support federally-subsidized flood insurance and federally-subsidized relocation of homeowners who have experienced floods, but that majority is even larger among Democrats.

Detailed results of the survey findings, along with survey methodology and transparency disclosures, are available here.

Weather and Climate News

Environmental News

Climate

NewsPartners

Flooding

Craig Helmstetter

Author

Rithwik Kalale

The latest Mood of the Nation 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.

Tim Evans for MPR News

How much of a role should each of the following play in determining how much of the available water goes to each state and community?

Flood insurance pays homeowners for damage caused by flooding, but many private companies will not sell flood insurance in many parts of the country. How strongly do you support or oppose the following proposals?

A much higher proportion of Democrats than Republicans or independents think the federal government should play a major role in water allocation

Support for federal response to flooding by race and ethnicity and by gender

A majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents support federal government flood mitigation for homeowners-but support is notably higher among Democrats

Poll: A majority support federal involvement in dealing with water shortages and flooding

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