Questions - Chesapeake Watershed October 2025

Survey of 1,030 US Likely Voters in the Chesapeake Watershed
Conducted October 17-24, 2025, by Rasmussen Reports and NumbersUSA

 

1.     The U.S. Department of Agriculture calculates that over the last four decades nearly 5,200 square miles of farmland and wildlife habitat in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have been permanently converted into housing, shopping malls, roads, and other urban and suburban development. How do you feel about this trend?

 

 

2.     Most of the new development in the Chesapeake Bay watershed has been driven by the addition of more than six million residents in the area. How do you feel about this level of population growth?

 

 

3.     Generally speaking, how has the additional development and population growth affected the quality of life in your region?

 

 

4.     In terms of such environmental issues as air quality, open space and traffic congestion, what do you think the impact of this recent development of 5,200 square miles has been in your region?

 

 

5.     In terms of water quality, fish and shellfish stocks, what do you think the environmental impact of this development has been on the Chesapeake Bay itself?

 

 

6.     How important is it to protect the remaining farmland, forests, wetlands, and open spaces within the Chesapeake Bay watershed from development?

 

 

7.     In terms of access to outdoor recreation like fishing, hunting, hiking, biking, and boating, what do you think the environmental impact of this recent development of 5,200 square miles has been in your region?

 

 

8.     How important is it to you personally to be able to access natural areas fairly quickly from where you live?

 

 

9.     Would you prefer that your region’s towns and cities remain separate and distinct from each other and keep their own identities, or does it not matter much if they merge into larger, continuous urban areas?

 

 

10.  If the population in your area were to increase significantly over the next decade, would the government be able to build enough extra transportation capacity to accommodate the extra traffic, or would driving times likely become worse?

 

 

11.  What would you prefer to happen to the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s population in the future?

 

 

12.  The United States is growing by around two million people each year. Immigration accounts for most of the growth in the whole country, as well as in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Going forward, what should the government do?

 

 

13.  Rezoning for increased density is an attempt to accommodate continued population growth while reducing development on farmland and natural habitat. Do you favor increasing density as means of limiting sprawl in your community?

 

14.  Do you favor paying higher property taxes if needed to accommodate new residents and residential development in your community?

 

15.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture calculates that in recent decades urban sprawl has destroyed 43 million acres of farmland and natural habitat in the U.S., an area about equal in size to New England. If this trend were to continue, would it be ....

 

 

16.  A recent study of government data found that most development in the last decade was driven by the country’s population growing by 22 million people. The Census Bureau projects at current rates the U.S. population could grow by more than one hundred million over the rest of this century. How would this amount of population growth affect your community and region?

 

 

17.  Do you feel an emotional or spiritual uplift from time spent in natural areas such as forests, wetlands, meadows, mountains, and water bodies?

 

 

18.  Which do you agree with more: that it is unethical to pave over and build on good cropland and wildlife habitat, or that the need for more housing is a legitimate reason to eliminate cropland and wildlife habitat?

 

 

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3% percentage points with a 95% level of confidence