http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37074.html
By ANDY BARR | 5/11/10 4:35 PM EDT
Liberals are now significantly less likely to support offshore drilling, with 67 percent saying the spill skewed their opinions against future drilling.
In the wake of a massive oil spill off the Gulf Coast, 55 percent of Americans say they still support offshore drilling, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling.
Thirty percent of the 707 registered voters polled nationwide opposed offshore drilling while 15 percent weren’t sure.
While a majority still back offshore drilling, the oil spill that has started to hit beaches along Louisiana has made 43 percent less likely to support further drilling off American coasts. Thirty-six percent said the spill has not changed their opinion while 21 percent are now more likely to support offshore drilling.
Liberals are now significantly less likely to support offshore drilling, with 67 percent saying the spill skewed their opinions against future drilling.
More conservatives actually said that the spill increased the likelihood that they would support offshore drilling, with 29 percent saying they are more likely to support future drilling since the spill compared to 23 percent who are less likely. Forty-eight percent of conservatives said the spill makes no difference on their opinions.
But while conservative views on offshore drilling have not been changed by the oil spill, very few said they are adopting a theory floated by Rush Limbaugh last week that environmental activists may be responsible for the incident that caused the spill.
Only 9 percent of conservatives said they believe environmentalists may have been responsible for the spill, compared with 22 percent who weren’t sure and 69 percent who didn’t think activists were responsible.
“It’s good to know that even if some Republicans think oil spills are a good thing, they at least don’t think environmentalists intentionally cause them,” PPP pollster Tom Jenson wrote on the firm’s blog.
special thanks to Richard Charter