Zogby Poll Confirms That Americans Want Strong Action on Climate and Energy

onAug 11, 2009 @ 14:56 PDT

A new Zogby poll commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation found that 71% of respondents supported the Waxman-Markey energy and climate bill recently passed in the House of Representatives. Only 19% of respondents said they were “strongly opposed” to the House bill, indicating that polluting industries and their front groups have failed in their grandiose efforts to convince the public that the House bill amounted to a sinister, hidden “energy tax”.

Fifty-four percent of respondents to the Zogby poll agree that the Senate needs to act immediately to pass legislation to fight global warming. “We need a new energy plan right now that invests in American, renewable energy sources like wind and solar, in order to create clean energy jobs, address global warming and reduce our dependency on foreign oil,” the 54% agreed.

While support for Congressional action is overwhelming, 45% of respondents believe Congress should be doing more to address the threat of climate change, indicating that voters want the Senate to take much stronger action than the House bill envisioned. “More than 40% of every age group also wants more from Congress when it comes to taking action to combat global warming,” according to a press release summarizing the Zogby poll. Only 28% believe that Congress is doing too much already.

Two-thirds (68%) of likely voters believe that a new energy policy focused on renewables and efficiency will not result in job losses. In fact, a majority (51%) believes that strong action to fight climate change would spur job growth, as President Obama has argued. Another 17% believe that energy legislation will not have any affect on American jobs. Only 29 percent feel efforts to promote clean energy will cost American jobs, again indicating that most people aren’t buying the doom and gloom fear-mongering of polluting interests and their front groups.

“Support for action on clean energy and energy efficiency was strong coming out of the election, and it is still strong today. Even when presented with the concerns some have raised about the potential costs associated with this legislation, most likely voters still want the Senate to act quickly to bring about a new energy plan for America,” said Zogby International Research Analyst Sam Rodgers.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.