Redstate

By Matt Hurley Posted in Archived — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

It was Energy Week over at my blog Weapons of Mass Discussion last week and with the topic still ringing as relevent, I thought it might be worth taking a look at some of the polling which shows that campaigning against the Pelosi Premium is a winner.

Let's start with Gallup (May 28th), where we discover that 57% of the American people favor "drilling in U.S. coastal and wilderness areas now off limits." Now there is some bad news in that poll too as 53% think that price controls are a good idea (45% do not). While 58% think that releasing some of the Strategic Petrolium Reserves (SPR) is a good idea (while 40% do not) only 49% support halting new shipments to the SPR. The statistic that will have the treehuggers running for the hills is that 20% support gas rationing while 79% do not.

Now, let's turn our attention to Rasmussen, where we find out that "[m]ost voters favor the resumption of offshore drilling in the United States and expect it to lower prices at the pump." This poll was taken prior to John Sidney McCain announcing that he would support such a measure. The numbers:

67% of voters believe that drilling should be allowed off the coasts of California, Florida and other states. Only 18% disagree and 15% are undecided. Conservative and moderate voters strongly support this approach, while liberals are more evenly divided (46% of liberals favor drilling, 37% oppose).

Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters believe it is at least somewhat likely that gas prices will go down if offshore oil drilling is allowed, although 27% don’t believe it. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of conservatives say offshore drilling is at least somewhat likely to drive prices down. That view is shared by 57% of moderates and 50% of liberal voters.

Nearly all voters are worried about rising gas and energy prices, with 79% very concerned and 16% somewhat concerned.

That last statistic is staggering: 95% of the American people are very concerned or somewhat concerned about the the price of gasoline. That Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats continue to turn a deaf ear to this issue is amazing.

Lastly, here are some numbers from pollster David Winston from April that also deserve some attention:

April 2008

Which statement do you agree with more? (ROTATE)

1. As much as I¹m concerned about the economy, we cannot afford to open up our natural resources to drilling for oil because of environmental risks. 32

2. The price of gas has gotten so high that we need to begin drilling for oil in an environmentally-sensitive way. 62

3. DK/Refused (DO NOT READ) 6

Do you think that offshore drilling for oil can or cannot be done in a way that does not harm the environment?

1. Can 73

2. Cannot 19

3. DK/Refused (DO NOT READ) 9

Do you think that Congress does or does not have the ability to lower gas prices?

1. Does 58

2. Does not 35

3. DK/Refused (DO NOT READ) 6

The American people are not being fooled. They know that we have the ability to get at this oil in an environmentally safe way and they want Congress to get out of the way.

The House Republicans, under Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner -- have been leading the way on this issue and finally getting some support from the likes of John McCain will go a long way in bolstering the conservative leadership from the so-called modearates who would have House Republicans walking away from tax and earmark reform. Boehner knows what he is doing and the leadership team, along with the Republican Study Committee, are doing most of the right things to put the GOP back on the road to regaining the majority.

Over in the Senate, it sure would be nice if someone would use Chuck Schumer's words againt him. My contacts in the World's Most Debilitating Body are significantly less than what I have in the House, but I don't hear anybody really taking up this issue in any significant manner. They should seriously consider getting on board.

Which brings us to the presidential race. McCain clearly gets that this is an issue where he might win some support. Previously, he tried to convince us that he understood the issue by pushing his gas tax holiday, but I think just about everybody sees through that as a temporary solution at best and political pandering at worst. By embracing an environmentally sound strategy of oil exploration, McCain could have his cake and eat it too.

The icing on that cake, however, is ANWR and it is on this issue where McCain is going to have quite some distance to backtrack. As one of Jonah Goldberg's correspondents pointed out, McCain is apparently ignorant of the fact that the Grand Canyon played host to uranium miners once upon a time without destroying the landmark's "pristine condition." There is no reason to continue to be an obstacle on the ANWR issue. If McCain can successfully find a way to withdraw his objection, I suspect he will reap some benefit from having done so.