California Conservative

According to Scott Rasmussen’s polling, “Fifty-six percent (56%) of Americans say they are not willing to pay more in taxes and utility costs to generate cleaner energy and fight global warming.” Here’s more of the details on Scott’s polling:

• Fifty-six percent (56%) of Americans say they are not willing to pay more in taxes and utility costs to generate cleaner energy and fight global warming.
• A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, taken since the climate change bill was passed on Friday, finds that 21% of Americans are willing to pay $100 more per year for cleaner energy and to counter global warming. Only 14% are willing to pay more than that amount.
• Fifty-two percent (52%) of all adults say it is more important to keep the cost of energy as low as possible than it is to develop clean, environmentally friendly sources of energy. But 41% disagree and say developing cleaner, greener energy sources is the priority.
• Sixty-three percent (63%) rate creating jobs as more important than taking steps to stop global warming. For 22%, stopping global warming is more important.

By an almost 3:1 margin, Americans favor keeping their money vs. paying more to “save the planet.” That’s nothing short of shocking. NOT!!! If Congress passes this bill and President Obama signs it into law, it will be just the latest proof that this Democratic administration and this Democrat Congress care more about their special interest allies than they care about the American people or science-based environmental policy.

Let’s be clear about something: This legislation isn’t about climate change. I think many of the people polled haven’t bought into the climate change hyperbole that Rep. Waxman and former VP Gore have been yapping about. That’s speculation on my part. What isn’t speculation is that this polling proves that people are significantly more worried about keeping money in their wallets than they are about saving the planet.

By a 3:1 margin, 63% to 22%, voters put a higher priority on policies that create jobs than on ’save the planet’ issues. If Republicans want to win this issue and draw big blocs of independent voters, they should stand firmly against the Democrats’ National Energy Tax.

I believe that this position is this year’s expression of last year’s anxiety over $4 a gallon gas prices. People haven’t stopped worrying about how high fossil fuel prices affect huge parts of their budget, whether it’s the gas they pump, their electric bills or higher grocery prices.

Democrats are painting themselves into a difficult corner with this. By passing this bill, Democrats are saying that they’re opposed to fossil fuels, that they’re ok with high gas prices and that they’re willing to pass legislation that drives companies from the United States and into China, Mexico and South Korea.

There’s a couple of reasons why that’s a difficult position to see, the biggest being that people care more about their wallets and the opportunity for prosperity than they care about ‘the environment’. Another reason why the Democrats’ position is a difficult position to defend is because driving businesses to other countries gives voters additional reasons for questioning the Democrats’ commitment to prosperity-inducing policies.

Simply put, this Democrat administration and this Democrat-controlled Congress are giving voters lots of reasons to question the Democrats’ economic stewardship.

Isn’t that the only question that voters will remember in November, 2010?

Technorati Tags: Energy, Polling, National Energy Tax, Taxes, Tax Increases, Environment, Outsourcing, Unemployment, Democrats, Election 2010

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 11:25 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Economy, Election 2010, Energy, Environment, Liberals, Obama, Pelosi, Special Interests, Taxes, Washington, DC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.