Westerners are using social media to vocalize their support for protecting public lands
The Trump administration’s approach to public lands has caught the attention of social media users, and they’re not pleased
A first-of-its-kind report by the Center for Western Priorities reveals a detailed look into how Westerners are using social media to talk about public lands.
From January 2016 to today, there were more than two million mentions from the five targeted Western states — Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico — relating to public lands. Each quarter saw a growth in the volume of conversation.
Now, let’s look at what all the talk was about.
Out of two million online mentions, 66 percent of conversations were geared toward the Trump administration, with most social media users focused on the administration’s proposals to remove protections, making public lands easier to sell or develop.
This year alone, there was a significant spike in social media conversations on several public lands-related policy proposals, including increasing the amount of land available for oil and gas development, cutting regulations for drilling and mining operations, expanding uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, and reducing the size of national monuments. Reactions online were overwhelmingly negative.
Westerners are motivated to use social media as a tool to vocalize their opinions, leaving the Trump administration with a negative “social media” public approval rating on its handling of public lands issues in all five states.
The remaining 34 percent of conversations were related to the recreational use of public lands through sharing recreational visits and scenic photos on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
People in the target states mentioned how they use public lands nearly one million times: hiking made up 34 percent of the conversation, camping was 24 percent, followed by mountain biking at 12 percent, off-roading at 10 percent, and the remaining 20 percent divided between fishing, hunting, and boating.
Westerners were not the only group to chime in on public lands; several large brands have gotten involved in the social media conversation through the use of influencers or their own channels, according to the analysis. Patagonia, in particular, has been especially successful in driving conversations in opposition to the Trump administration’s public lands proposals, generating approximately 60,000 posts since 2016.
The results from the social media analysis build on the findings from our Winning the West poll and “outdoor voter” profiles. We knew Western voters care deeply about protecting public lands and those outdoor values help drive their voting behavior. Now we are seeing rising volumes of online conversation, which may indicate the outsized role public lands issues could play in the outcome of elections in the Mountain West. We’ll be watching close races around the West on Election Day to see if outdoor voters make the difference.
To learn more, please go to WinningTheWest2018.org.
