The majority of Americans want drilling? Depends on how you ask them
August 19, 2008 at 11:10 am by Thomas Wheatley in NewsThere’s an interesting conversation taking place on Peach Pundit about what exactly the Democrats want in an energy plan now that 70 percent of Americans are in favor of drilling off the coast and in protected lands in Alaska.
Wait, wha?!? Seven out of 10 voters want increased drilling? Even if it won’t lower gas prices in the short-term? Even if those people take into account that oil is a global commodity and whatever is found isn’t necessarily ours to keep? Even with all the risks associated with these projects at a time when hurricanes are predicted to become more frequent and powerful?
The Washington Monthly had an excellent post yesterday about how many of these “should we drill” polls aren’t so cut-and-dry when respondents are posed questions that give them options in addition to drilling, such as energy conservation — considered by many experts to be the cheapest and most obvious method — or wind and solar power. Like this Pew Center poll when energy conservation was included as an option.
Guest blogger David Moore at Washington Monthly says:
Despite conventional wisdom these days that the public overwhelmingly supports expanded offshore oil drilling, some careful poll results reveal a more complicated public opinion. If all the pollsters were willing to explore the uncertainty of public opinion, they would find a large segment of the public that genuinely doesn’t know the best strategy for the energy problems this country faces. Instead, the polls give the erroneous impression that the vast majority of Americans have a clear opinion — with zero percent undecided, according to CNN, and no more than 10 percent according to other polls. And that opinion favors expanded offshore oil drilling.
There’s the larger question of why topics such as energy conservation aren’t discussed. They’re abstract, for one, and we all saw what happened if you offer a concrete example of how simple conservation measures can work. But there’s also the issue of government sticking its nose in big business’…uh…business. Power companies are in business to make money. How do they do that? Sell more power.
For an excellent listing of various polls about the energy crunch, click here.
(Hat tip to ClimateProgress)
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