[A-List] Americans favor emissions limits & R&D, oppose drilling in ANWR

[Charles Brown]

April 05, 2007
Most Americans Back Curbs on Auto Emissions, Other Environmental  
Proposals
Solid majority opposes drilling for oil in Alaskan wilderness

by Lydia Saad
GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's annual Environment survey, updated Mar.  
11-14, 2007, finds the overwhelming majority of Americans supporting  
environmental proposals that would strengthen government restrictions  
on greenhouse gas emissions and spend more taxpayer money to develop  
alternative sources of fuel and energy. Americans have been widely  
supportive of these proposals since Gallup began tracking them as far  
back as six years ago. Public support for these proposals dipped  
slightly in 2006 but bounced back this year, and grew to a new high  
in the case of setting higher restrictions on auto emissions.

Gallup finds much less support for expanding the use of nuclear  
energy or opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for  
oil exploration.

The percentages favoring each of the eight proposals tested range  
from a high of 86% for spending government money to develop  
alternative sources of fuel for automobiles, to a low of 41% for oil  
drilling in the Alaskan wilderness.

[...]

Changes in the Last Year

Seventy-nine percent of Americans now favor setting higher emission  
standards for automobiles, a slightly higher percentage than has been  
the case across four other measurements taken since 2001.

An even greater shift is seen in the percentage of Americans in favor  
of setting higher emissions and pollution standards for business and  
industry, rising from 77% in March 2006 to 84% in March 2007.  
However, the current level is similar to that found four years ago.

Last year's survey was conducted at a time of rising gas prices,  
which may have dampened Americans' willingness to support  
environmental policies presumed to drive fuel costs even higher.


Those in favor of spending more government money on developing solar  
and wind power grew by a small, but statistically significant, 4  
percentage points over the past year, from 77% to 81%.

Similarly, a 4-point increase is seen in the percentage of Americans  
saying they are in favor of imposing mandatory controls on carbon  
dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases -- from 75% in 2006 to  
79% today. (Although this type of control is the cornerstone of the  
Kyoto global warming protocol that President George W. Bush opposes,  
public support for Kyoto, per se, has not been nearly this high.)

Eighty-two percent of Americans now say they favor "more strongly  
enforcing environmental regulations." This is not appreciably higher  
than the 79% Gallup recorded in 2006, but is the highest percentage  
seen since Gallup began tracking the measure in 2001.

There has been no significant change since 2006 in the percentage of  
Americans in favor of spending more government money to develop  
alternate fuel sources for automobiles -- the most widely favored of  
all proposals tested. That figure is currently 86%, compared with 85%  
in March 2006.

Nuclear Power and Arctic Oil Exploration Lose Support

Gallup's 2007 Environment poll documents a 5-point decline in the  
percentage of Americans who favor expanding the use of nuclear  
energy, and an 8-point decline in support for opening the Alaskan  
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil exploration.

As a result, Americans are now closely divided over the nuclear  
energy issue (50% in favor and 46% opposed), while a solid majority  
of Americans oppose drilling for oil in ANWR (41% in favor, 57%  
opposed).

Comparing the current views to those of 2006 could overstate the  
importance of the changes, as public support for both proposals was  
unusually high last year, possibly due to rising gas prices. Current  
support levels are on par with where they stood in previous years.

Partisan Differences

Gallup generally finds the greatest differences among subgroups in  
support for the eight environmental proposals according to political  
party affiliation. Democrats widely support most of the proposed  
government regulations on greenhouse emissions as well as increased  
government spending to develop alternative energy sources. A majority  
of Republicans also support these proposals, just not to as great an  
extent.

The greatest partisan differences relate to the expansion of nuclear  
power and opening ANWR to oil exploration. A majority of Republicans  
favor these proposals, while a majority of Democrats oppose them.

Men and women are similar in their views about government spending on  
alternative energy and capping greenhouse gases, but they differ  
fairly sharply when it comes to expanding nuclear energy and drilling  
in ANWR; men are more supportive than women of both proposals.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,009 national adults,  
aged 18 and older, conducted Mar. 11-14, 2007. For results based on  
the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence  
that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. In  
addition to sampling error, question wording and practical  
difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into  
the findings of public opinion polls.

see <http:// 
www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=27100> 



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