Energy polled high in voter concern this past election 3

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1. 

   pyewacket Posted 5:48 am
   21 Nov 2006

   I don't think soDon't mean to burst your bubble, but I don't see how you can read these results as very good.  For one thing, it means almost nothing to ask if something is a major reason for voting a particular way in an election if you don't make people pick among different reasons.  Everyone always says everything is important.  The only ways to find out what is really important to people are 1) give a list and make them pick or 2) ask an open-ended question and let them say what comes to mind.
   Also, I don't understand why gas prices should be considered a positive environmental issue - most people who are voting on gas prices don't want to conserve. They just want cheap gas and plenty of it. How is that environmentally good? I can see the opportunity inherent in people's frustration, the place where environmentalists can talk about alternative energy, but I don't think the concern about gas prices is an environmental issue per se to those who voted.

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2. 

   David Roberts Posted 5:55 am
   21 Nov 2006

   I'm afraid ...... I'm with pyewacket. I fear that for most Americans, "energy" is just a stand-in for "gas prices," and "gas prices" means "we want lower gas prices."
   There is manifestly nothing environmental about a desire for lower gas prices.
   
   www.grist.org

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3. 

   Ana Unruh Cohen Posted 6:55 am
   21 Nov 2006

   So you'd prefer the alternative?Notice I said "read them and smile." Not "read them and pack up our job is done here."
   We definitely have more work to do to build the public's understanding and support for environmental issues, but I think these polls results are encouraging.
   I'd rather have the public thinking about energy and global warming that not, even if the issues are tied up with their other concerns like Iraq and the economy. Maybe that is even better. The polling I've seen over the past two years suggests that the public is developing a more sophisticated understanding of energy and climate change issues, even as they complain as gasoline prices go up.
   And I agree that concern about gas prices does not equal environmentally sound voting, but overall the issues the GQR memo point out helped the Democrats are important. Namely their opposition to subsidies for the oil industry, talking about the potential for renwables to strengthen the economy, and the importance energy issues played in voters perception that the Democrats had new ideas and were thinking about the future.
   Many groups are working hard to educate lawmakers that our energy policy has to be about more than the price at the pump. There is clearly a lot to be done on the issue, but I think it is moving in the right direction and these post-election poll results help that.
   To the issue of everybody saying something is important when asked, I think the Zogby poll calls that into question since half of those polled said it wasn't important! But yes giving an open ended opportunity to answer or a list can be more insightful. I believe the GQR poll used a list methodology to asses energy price issues for their key groups. See page 2 of the pdf memo.  

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