New Energy Beats Hybrids
by Scott Rasmussen
Issue 133 - June 10, 2009

Forcing auto companies to make more fuel-efficient cars may be fine, but Americans overwhelmingly believe it’s more important for the country to find new energy sources.

Seventy-five percent (75%) say finding new sources of energy to reduce that dependence will do more to help the environment than requiring automakers to produce more fuel-efficient cars. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 13% hold the opposite view. Younger Americans feel even more strongly abut developing new energy sources than their elders do.

Placing the priority on finding new energy sources is a view shared by men and women, young and old, investor and non-investor, low-income, and high-income, white and non-white. There also is very little partisan divide on this question.

Most Democrats favor an agreement announced by President Obama requiring auto companies to making cars that get more miles to a gallon of gas, while a majority of Republicans oppose such a law. But among all Americans, 55% support a law mandating higher fuel efficiency even if it increases the average cost of a car by $600 or more.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of Americans believe that finding new sources of energy is more important than reducing the amount of energy Americans now consume. This finding has consistent for months.

Fifty percent (50%) want to see more nuclear power plants in the United States.

However, in terms of the four top priorities Obama laid out at the beginning of his presidency, voters rank developing new energy sources as third behind deficit reduction and health care reform.

Just after Obama’s election in November, 58% of U.S. voters agreed with his plan to spend $150 billion over the next 10 years to develop to renewable and green energy sources.

Last August as the presidential campaign was beginning to heat up, voters said electric or hybrid cars and new nuclear power plans were more likely than solar or wind power to significantly reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

Only 22% of Americans are willing to spend more for a hybrid car to help the environment.

Lessening U.S. dependence on foreign oil has been a political rallying call for years, but it took on renewed emphasis last year with the jump in gas prices. It also prompted Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, to propose lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling, which generated strong public support, ultimately forcing Obama, his Democratic opponent, to endorse it as well.

With the drop in gas prices, the call for offshore drilling has diminished. But offshore drilling is popular with the public.

Scott Rasmussen is president of Rasmussen Reports and has been an independent pollster for more than a decade. Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.