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

[Suzanne de Kuyper]

Thank you...S.

On 4/6/07, Charles Brown <cbrown at michiganlegal.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> 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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