Green Options » gallup

Spin Me Again! More Americans Now Think Global Warming is Exaggerated

Alan Smith — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:09:56 +0000

For all President Obama’s rhetoric of science being back in the White House spotlight, it sounds like much of America hasn’t quite gotten that message. A new poll from Gallup suggests that 41% of Americans think that the threat of Global Warming is exaggerated, the highest such number in a decade. Well, at least people now mostly accept that it’s happening, even if it’s not a big deal…

Take that, Science!

Not surprisingly, the numbers on urgency seem to be based on political party: 66% of Republicans now think the Global Warming concerns are overblown, whereas people who identify as Democrats are holding at around 20%. The political party that supports old energy doesn’t believe we need new energy… hmmmm…

It’s very easy for me, and for everyone else who clearly sees the logic behind the climate change science, to be frustrated by the war being waged on these facts by a coordinated series of commercial campaigns, and by the political factions who are allied with oil and coal interests. But my background is coming from the news, so it’s not surprising that it’s the mainstream media that makes this poll really stick in my craw.

Presidential Debate: John McCain vs. Barack Obama - Who Won? [Poll]

Jerry James Stone — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:27:47 +0000

[Editor's Note: On the heels of our first RG&B debate poll conducted to gauge public opinion on the first and only vice-presidential debate, we've decided to follow up with a poll for the top of the ticket.]

John McCain and Barack Obama squared off in the second of three Presidential Debates this election season. Tell us who won and why?

Click Here to Answer the RG&B Poll Question: Who Won Tuesday Night’s Presidential Debate?

Poll: Americans More Likely to Vote For a Candidate Who Supports Conservation and Efficiency

Timothy B. Hurst — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:34:34 +0000

Despite the fact that a plurality (less than half) of Americans favor a pro-nuclear-energy candidate, more say they would rebuff a candidate who wants to build nuclear power plants than say this about any of nine other possible energy reforms, according to a new Gallup Poll.

The poll, conducted over July 25-27 found that Americans seem more prepared to support candidates who focus on demand-side management (consumer conservation of energy), raising fuel efficiency standards, increasing government spending on alternative fuels, establishing price controls on gasoline, imposing a windfall profits tax on oil companies, and easing restrictions on offshore drilling.

The two positions receiving the strongest “Less Likely to Vote For” percentages - “Building more nuclear power plants” and “Suspending the federal gas tax for several months” - are both positions Senator McCain has strongly endorsed throughout the summer.

A European Bounce for Candidate Obama

Timothy B. Hurst — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 01:47:38 +0000

Latest Gallup Poll suggests Obama lead grew while in Europe

From the 200,000 Germans that showed up to see Senator Obama speak in Berlin, to the press conference he had with a gushing French President Nicolas Sarkozy, it is not hard to understand why one European newspaper referred to him as, “Arguably the world’s most popular politician.”

But during a press conference with Sarkozy, one French journalist asked the politically astute question: “Is it a good thing to be loved by the French in the United States?”

Obama replied by saying both countries have suffered from caricatures — America as unilateral and militaristic, and France as anti-American and soft on security, but that in actuality, “The average American has enormous fondness for the French people,” Obama said. “And I think people in France and people throughout Europe should not underestimate how much interest there is in America in seeing the transatlantic relationship improving.”

Obama’s trip to the Middle East and Europe was designed, in part, to give those who doubted his presidential capacity, particularly in matters of foreign affairs, a glimpse of the junior Senator from Illinois being, well, “presidential.”

And it seems to have worked.

A July 26th Gallup Poll suggests that Obama has actually widened his lead over Republican John McCain while in Europe. Obama’s current seven-point lead over McCain ties the widest since the start of Gallup Poll Daily tracking of the general election in early March. The one other time there was a seven point difference was immediately after Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination in early June.

Let me make this clear, polling is not an exact science, and swings of a couple of points here or there really don’t mean that much. And certainly some portion of the widening gap is attributable to the extra media coverage the trip sparked.

But as the Barack Obama Summer World Tour winds up today in London, it is plain to see the presumptive Democratic nomminee’s rock-star appeal is not bound by the shores of the United States. And Americans have reacted to candidate Obama’s overseas trip quite favorably.

Is it possible that the blinders that kept so many Americans from seeing how the rest of the world actually perceives us are now revealing that they have some holes?

Image Credits: 1. Obama for President; 2. Gallup.