National Survey: Wrong Direction for Obama Energy Policies

Americans see Direct Connection Between Domestic Energy Production and Lower Prices

WASHINGTON D.C. – As a part of an ongoing multi-million dollar initiative to educate the American public about energy issues, the American Energy Alliance (AEA) released today results of a national survey of likely voters that reveals overwhelming support for increased energy production and widespread acknowledgment that a healthy energy industry – which not only provides us with our basic energy needs, but also is responsible for hundreds and hundreds of products we use every day – is a critical link to lower energy prices and an improved economy.

“Americans see a clear connection between a robust energy industry and lower energy prices here at home,” said Tom Pyle, President of AEA. “A solid majority of likely voters want our government to promote policies that increase energy production and help guarantee energy security. Americans overwhelmingly agree that more production from U.S. lands will reduce our level of imported oil and help moderate gasoline price spikes,” Pyle added.

Highlights of the survey include:

• Almost three-quarters of respondents (77%) said yes when asked whether increasing U.S. production could help moderate gasoline prices.  4 in 5 said that such an increase in production could help either “some” (32%) or “quite a lot” (57%).  Even 52% of moderates and 38% of liberals think that additional production of oil would help moderate gas prices ‘quite a lot’.  Additionally, 83% of total respondents agreed that increased U.S. production would reduce our dependence on imported oil.
• Respondents rejected the Obama Administration’s approach that emphasizes making the economy less dependent on fossil fuels versus increased production.  In that hard test, more than half (51%) preferred increased American production, while 38% said that the right answer was to reduce our overall dependence on fossil fuels.
• Respondents think that the federal government can do more.  When asked (on a scale of one to ten, with ten being “quite a lot”) how much the federal government could do to affect the price of gasoline, the mean response was 6.5 (and the median response was 7).  When asked what the President was actually doing, the mean response was 3.6 (and the median was just 3).  Voters perceive a fairly significant gap between what can be done and what is being done.

• Respondents are clear that the President is not as committed to traditional fuels as he is to alternative fuels.  Almost two thirds (64%) agreed that the President would rather focus on alternative energy instead of oil and gas.  It appears that the President has been branded as an alternative energy fan; that means that his efforts to seem to be in favor of more oil and gas production ring hollow (which is probably why respondents rate his efforts so low).

The national telephone survey of 1000 likely voters was conducted by MWR Strategies on April 6^th through April 13^th, 2012, and has a margin of error of 3.1%.

To view the actual survey questions, click here.

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