Strong Energy Measures Wanted

The new poll holds welcome news for Republicans' approach in a campaign season that has otherwise left McCain and the GOP with few opportunities to trump Democrats.

In addition to offshore drilling, most voters support an expansion of drilling in wilderness areas where it is currently banned, although Democrats and independents are about evenly split on that concept. By contrast, Republicans are divided 50 to 49 percent on whether to increase taxes on oil company profits, something that nearly two-thirds of Democrats and 54 percent of independents favor. Overall, 55 percent support these new taxes.

And just over six in 10 back new regulations on speculators with the idea of restricting trading that may affect the price of gasoline.

Nuclear power, which McCain has trumpeted as a cleaner energy source than oil, fares the worst in terms of public support, with 44 percent supporting the construction of more nuclear power plants. But that is up 10 percentage points from three years ago, reaching its highest level in polls going back to 1980.

On their own, many Americans have embraced conservation efforts: More than seven in 10 said they are trying to cut back on energy usage. Most of those respondents said they are driving less, about half said they have curtailed electricity use, and a third said they have tried to reduce their "carbon footprint" by recycling.

About four in 10 said they are motivated by both environmental and economic concerns. A third said they are primarily driven by environmental worries, a quarter mainly by the financial pinch.

Half of those polled, however, said that a candidate's being a "strong environmentalist" would have little impact on their vote, a 14-point jump from the spring of 1999.

The poll was conducted by telephone July 23 to 28 among a random national sample of 1,000 adults. The results from the full survey have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.