Nobody Wants This: New Poll Finds Majority of Americans Oppose Attacks on National Parks and Park Staff

69%

Oppose President Trump’s proposed $1 billion cut to the National Park Service’s budget.

The national poll comes as national parks struggle under massive staffing cuts and the Department of the Interior plans for more mass terminations. While a government shutdown pushed staffing and funding shortfalls into more headlines, parks have been under assault since the first days of the new administration:

• This year alone, national parks have lost more than 25% of permanent staff.

• The president has proposed a budget that would cut more than $1 billion in funding for the National Park Service, which would force more than 350 parks to close.

• Parks have been directed to remove or censor information that the administration didn’t like.

• The administration prioritized oil and gas drilling — even on the doorsteps of national parks — in its signature “Big Beautiful Bill”

Methodology

The NPCA poll, which surveyed a representative national sample of 3,000 adults (18 years and older), was conducted from October 27 - November 2, 2025, by YouGov. The margin of error for this poll is +/-2.14 %.

78%

Agree that national parks should not remove photos, signs or other materials that tell the factual aspect of America’s history.

Key Findings

• A strong bipartisan majority (69%) of Americans oppose President Trump’s proposed $1 billion cut to the National Park Service’s budget, which could force the closure of at least 350 national parks sites across the country.

• A strong majority of Americans (62%) oppose the Trump administration’s plan to cut more National Park Service staff, which would break an already overwhelmed Park Service that has been struggling for months.

• Across the political spectrum, more than 3 in 4 Americans (78%) agree that national parks should not remove photos, signs or other materials that tell factual aspects of America’s history, directly refuting the administration’s push to censor educational and historical materials from public access.

• A strong majority of Americans (77%), regardless of political affiliation, support the ability of presidents to designate national monuments, reflecting a desire to conserve more lands, history and heritage for future generations.

• Nearly 60% of Americans oppose opening lands in or adjacent to national parks for mining and drilling, recognizing that such activities can cause irreversible damage and threaten the very experiences millions of visitors come to national parks to enjoy.

Data

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The views expressed on this page are those of the National Parks Conservation Association and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Park Service.