How the Offshore Drilling Issue Plays Politically
July 2nd, 2008 | by mantrionline |With the distress of Americans growing as gasoline prices passed the $4-a-gallon mark, John McCain put the issue of offshore oil drilling back at political center stage in mid-June by proposing an end to the federal moratorium on drilling for states that wanted to allow it. Barack Obama lost little time pushing back against the idea.
Two recent national polls have pegged the number of Americans who favor measures to increase energy production through offshore drilling and other more aggressive exploration and production measures, although they have analyzed the results in somewhat different ways.
The Pew Research Center, in a poll conducted June 18-29, said the number of Americans who believe the most important priority for energy policy was to expand exploration and do more mining and drilling had risen from 35 percent in February to 47 percent in June. Those who said the higher priority for the country was developing new energy sources rose from 54 percent to 60 percent in the same period while those who favored protecting the environment slipped from 36 percent to 34 percent. The number of people who saw more energy conservation as a priority dropped from 55 percent to 45 percent.
And there was a turnaround in public opinion about whether drilling should be allowed in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. In February, Americans opposed that drilling by 50 percent to 42 percent. In June, they favored it 50 percent to 43 percent. Three-quarters of self-described Republicans support ANWR drilling, up 12 points from February; 36 percent of Democrats support it, up 5 points from February; and 48 percent of Independents agree, up 7 points.
A Rasmussen Reports survey conducted June 26 put the number of Americans supporting offshore drilling at 59 percent. But Rasmussen said that this number was down 3 points from a week earlier, and noted that after Obama came out against the McCain proposal, support among Democrats for offshore oil drilling dropped from 41 percent to 33 percent and opposition rose from 43 percent to 50 percent.
Rasmussen also had polls from some coastal states which produced differing views. In Florida, voters favored offshore oil drilling by a 59 percent to 32 percent margin. Fifty-five percent believed it would help reduce gasoline prices. But in California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes McCain’s plan, 47 percent of voters oppose offshore drilling while 46 percent favor it, with 7 percent undecided, according to a Rasmussen poll conducted June 23. The margin of error in this poll was 4.5 percent. Half of Californians don’t believe that offshore drilling will bring down the cost of gasoline while 47 percent do. Rasmussen says: “The data indicates that McCain’s energy proposal may have united his opposition. Obama leads 84% to 6% among California Democrats. That’s a vast improvement from a month ago when he attracted just 73% of the votes from his own party.”
