… The fracking issue is one where Americans have a general philosophy that’s tolerant, but shift to paranoid aversion to anything involving oil and gas when it’s in their own back yard. … The key problem with drilling is that people understand almost nothing about the technology. This lack of knowledge […] Read more »
Mixed Emotions on Energy Issues Complicate Environmentalists’ Efforts
Mixed emotions in the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll may help pinpoint the challenge confronting environmentalists looking to build a coalition behind one of their top priorities. This week’s survey tested attitudes on two hot-button issues: construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and President Obama’s proposal to regulate […] Read more »
Americans Support the Keystone XL Pipeline by Wide Margin
While the Obama administration mulls whether to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, Americans are already decided. They support the project by a wide margin, prioritizing potential economic benefits over possible environmental consequences. [cont.] Steven Shepard, National Journal Read more »
Public backs Obama on strong carbon controls
When President Barack Obama announces his new climate change plan Tuesday, he will be addressing a voting public that, despite conventional wisdom, is ready to embrace his key proposal: Environmental Protection Agency regulation of carbon emissions from existing power plants. Since the failure to pass cap-and-trade in 2009, Washington conventional […] Read more »
Republicans and Democrats Treat Fracking Like It’s Global Warming
The more liberals and conservatives know about science, the more they have wildly variant views about the risks of global warming, according to research by Yale’s Dan Kahan. You might call it the “smart idiot” effect—knowledge, itself, seems to make people with diametrically opposed views more sure that they’re right, […] Read more »
Public Opinion on Fracking: Perspectives from Michigan and Pennsylvania
… This report examines public opinion in Michigan and Pennsylvania on a series of issues concerning the impact of fracking on the economy, environmental protection, and information disclosure. Pennsylvania and Michigan have been selected as the focus of this report because they represent states with varied levels of hydraulic fracturing […] Read more »