Utah voters say they don’t want the incoming Trump administration to remove protections for the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, according to a new survey released Tuesday that was conducted by a Republican polling firm.
What’s more, the statewide poll of more than 500 registered voters commissioned by the Grand Canyon Trust found that 75 percent of respondents support presidents using their executive authority to designate national monuments, such as former President Barack Obama did in establishing Bears Ears in 2016, and former President Bill Clinton did with Grand Staircase-Escalante in 1996.
A separate poll of Arizona voters, also released Tuesday and conducted for the Grand Canyon Trust by a separate polling company, found strong support for presidential monument designations. Voters there also do not want the incoming administration to alter a national monument designated in 2023 by President Joe Biden that protects nearly 1 million acres around Grand Canyon National Park.
The latest poll results come less than a week before President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated for a second term in office Monday.
