Forty years after a multi-year bi-partisan government commission recommended slowing U.S. population growth and eventually stabilizing, Americans still would like to see it happen.
Key Findings:
The new poll found that Americans aren’t happy that the population has never stopped expanding (from just over 200 million in 1970 to more than 300 million); 52% say the extra 100 million has damaged the environment, contrasted to 6% who say it brought improvement.
- The new poll found only 10% of U.S. voters approve the current rate of growth that the Census Bureau states will double U.S. population from 313 million today to over 600 million by the end of the century.
- Given two other options, 35% of Americans chose cutting the rate of growth in half, and 46% said they would prefer no more population growth at all.
- Of the nearly half of Americans who want no more population growth, one of four said they would like to see the population slowly become smaller to the 250 million size of 1990, and one of six preferred the 200 million size of 1970.
