It wasn’t just the economy on voters minds this election, or perhaps people realize that energy and economy go hand in hand.

In a nationwide poll conducted by Lake Research Partners for the Sierra Club on Monday the 3rd and Tuesday the 4th , 50% of voters said that energy issues where “personally important in deciding for whom to vote for President” this year.

62% said they remembered hearing at least something about energy issues and global warming from the rival campaigns. After all, who can forget the GOP mantra Drill, baby, drill? That mantra may have been a big hit in the red-meat-eating frenzy of the Republican convention, but it didn’t carry as well as the McCain campaign might have hoped. Based on what voters heard, 49% felt that Obama has a better plan for investing in clean energy and creating new jobs, with 35% for McCain.

Voters understood that there was a real choice between the two candidates in terms of energy policy, with 82% saying there was at least some difference, with 43% seeing a significant difference.

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