New Poll: Americans Like the Clean Energy Bill

Looks like the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) is one of the most popular kids on the Capitol Hill campus.

In spite of months fear-mongering and outright lying by opponents, a new poll says 71 percent of likely voters favor the bill.

The Zogby poll sampled people across the country and found:

• 71 percent favor the climate bill that was recently passed by the House of Representatives.
• 67 percent think Congress is either “doing the right amount” or “should be doing more” to address global warming.
• 51 percent think that “efforts to reduce global warming and promote clean energy” will lead to new job creation,  and
• another 17 percent think the efforts will not affect American jobs at all — which means less than one-third are worried the bill will cause job losses.
• Favorable views of the bill were high among all age and income groups; ditto for the belief that environmental efforts will create new American jobs.
• Even Republicans aren’t as opposed to the bill as their party leaders might want them to be; 45 percent have a favorable view of ACES. (A whopping 89 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of Independents like the measure)

Says Zogby analyst Sam Rodgers:

Clearly, voters strongly favor the ideas outlined in the bill. Support for action on clean energy and energy efficiency was strong coming out of the election, and it is still strong today.

The moral of the story: Next time you read one of those opposition pieces about how support for ACES is eroding — don’t believe it. Americans see the potential in clean energy.

See the complete methodological statement on the survey.