The Associated Press-GfK poll delved into what Americans think about water in times of drought. The participants were asked to classify water as a limited or renewable resource, and rate the priority use of water should drought prevail.
The poll was performed by GfK Public Affairs and Corporate Communications from July 9 to 13. The original data were collated via phone and mail surveys among members of the KnowledgePanel, a nationally representative sample of GfK. The 1,004 adult participants were then interviewed online as Internet access were provided to those who did not have one.
The results of the poll were adjusted according to several factors to guarantee that it will demonstrate the accurate composition of the population factors including sex, age, race, education and phone use.
The findings of the poll, published in the AP-GfK website, show that two-thirds of Americans think that water can be considered a limited resource and one-third believe that is a renewable resource that may be replaced should the population need it.
Specifically for the cases of drought, seven out of 10 Americans think that the government should set a limit as to the amount of water that communities and business sectors should utilize.
The priority applications of scarce water were also asked, should limitation be placed by the government. The poll shows that the highest priority should be awarded to the agricultural sector, with three-quarters of Americans voting for it. Next in line is for the consumption of water in residential areas, with more two-thirds of the votes. The third priority application goes to wildlife and ecosystems and the last sector, which the subjects think should be prioritized in cases of water scarcity, is the business or industrial fields.
The poll also determined whether the participants were Republicans or Democrats to find out the top opinions for each group. The poll found that 81 percent of Republicans think that the highest priority for water use should be allotted for agricultural purposes, which is a fairly higher rate compared to only 74 percent of Democrats who think the same.
The poll was able to engage participants, with a 48 percent cooperation rate. A plus or minus 3.4 percentage points were noted as the margin of sampling error for all the subjects.
Photo: Matt McDaniel | Flickr
