If you haven’t heard about the recent protests in North Dakota…Well, where have you been?
Though the company funding the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) ensures its safety, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says the pipeline would endanger its water and holy sites. Hundreds of thousands of people have joined them in their protest, including actors such as Shailene Woodley and Susan Sarandon, and over 1 Million people checked in on Facebook this week to express solidarity.
Despite this protest, and a past halt by the Obama administration, construction of the pipeline has continued.
Do people care?
Admittedly, I have a very liberal-slanted social media network, and I wanted to see if the opinions I’ve heard about this pipeline represent those throughout the rest of the country. I also wanted to see if people were even aware of this significant and corrosive controversy. After all, we’re only a few days away from the big election. So, I asked:
Even though my Facebook may be biased, it seems the voices I’ve been hearing, seeing and reading about are strongly representative of Americans right now.
Of people following the story, 50% think that construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline should stop, while only 34% think it should continue. It’s also telling that 78% of everyone we asked are aware of these recent protests. With the saturation of news so close to the election, I’m somewhat surprised that people have paid attention elsewhere.
We’ll be tracking awareness and sentiment around this controversial pipeline over the next few weeks, so feel free to subscribe for updates.
