US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin has seen his popularity slump among his fellow New Yorkers, according to a new survey.
Just three years on from nearly upsetting the odds in New York’s 2022 governor’s race, Zeldin, who has historically positioned himself as a ‘pragmatic Republican’, has a popularity rating of 29% among New Yorkers, down from 43% in 2022.
At the same time, some 40% of respondents view him unfavourably, the survey, conducted by Public Policy Polling for the Environmental Defense Fund, found.
“Lee Zeldin’s actions as EPA Administrator appear to have driven his favourability ratings in New York to an all-time low,” commented Jim Williams, polling analyst at Public Policy Polling. “Even in his home base of Long Island, his initial personal favourability rating is under water (44% favourable, 48% unfavourable) and only gets worse once respondents hear more about what he has done at the EPA (39% favourable, 47% unfavourable).”
EPA actions
Zeldin’s decline in popularity is directly linked to the actions he is undertaking at the EPA, according to the survey, with just 31% approving of the job he is doing.
In terms of specific actions, just 23% of respondents support his move to reverse mercury pollution limits, while 52% oppose it.
Elsewhere, 28% support abolishing the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, with 56% opposing this decision, and 31% support overturning the scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health, with 54% opposing.
Finally, less than a third (31%) support the EPA’s proposal to deregulate 31 major environmental and health protections, with 52% opposing.
‘Don’t like what they’re seeing’
“New Yorkers clearly don’t like what they’re seeing from Lee Zeldin,” added Joanna Slaney, vice president for political and government affairs at Environmental Defense Fund. “He looks to be putting his own ambition ahead of their everyday needs, like clean air and safe drinking water.
“He’s stripping away protections from harmful pollutants while offering passes to coal plants and chemical makers to release even more. And he’s gloating about ‘driving a dagger’ through efforts to reduce the pollution that’s contributing to worsening heat, flooding and wildfires. His actions are not only putting children and the communities where they grow up in danger. They’re badly damaging his own image at home.” Read more here.
