Posted on 08/18/2005 9:13:19 AM PDT by AFPhys
As the price of oil surges, so has support for building nuclear power plants in the United States. The latest Rasmussen Reports survey finds that Americans support the nuclear power option by a more than 2-to-1 margin (55% to 24%).
In June, before the latest surge in oil prices, the country was more evenly divided on that question--44% in favor and 35% opposed. Much of the growth in support for nuclear power plants can be found among women and Democrats. However, men and Republicans remain even more supportive.
Eighty-seven percent (87%) of Americans believe it is somewhat or very important for the U.S. to reduce its reliance on imported oil. That's essentially unchanged from the earlier survey.
Also unchanged is the belief that energy conservation is not a lasting solution. Sixty-four percent (64%) say that, in the long run, developing new sources of energy is more important than conserving energy. Just 26% take the opposite view.
Sixty-four percent (64%) of men and 46% of women say it is "time for the United States to begin building power plants again." Twenty-two percent of men and 25% of women take the opposite view. Earlier in the summer, a plurality of women were opposed to building new nuclear power plants.
A similar shift has occurred among Democrats. By a 52% to 26% margin, members of Howard Dean's party support building more nuclear power plants. In the previous survey, a plurality of Democrats were opposed.
Republicans support building new nuclear power plants by a 63% to 18% margin.
Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republicans believe developing new energy sources is more important than conserving energy. That view is shared by 59% of Democrats and 64% of unaffiliateds.
Rising oil prices have depressed consumer confidence. This may be the reason that more people are willing to support more nuclear power plants in the United States.
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Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.
Rasmussen Reports was the nation's most accurate polling firm during the Presidential election and the only one to project both Bush and Kerry's vote total within half a percentage point of the actual outcome.
During Election 2004, RasmussenReports.com was also the top-ranked public opinion research site on the web. We had twice as many visitors as our nearest competitor and nearly as many as all competitors combined.
Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade
WHAT nuke plants in the Northeast? The only one that I know of that is working near to capacity is Seabrook in NH. There could be more, but I don't know. The Northeast gets a LOT of it's power from hydroelectric plants in Canada. That's where our town-owned electric company gets ours.
It should be interesting to watch how the Seven Sisters, their flunkies in the leftist foundations and their eco-rat foot soldiers seek to sabotage this trend.
Hey, I'm mucho in favor of that---in my book "power to the people" means MORE MEGAWATTS!!!!
There was some discussion early on of the "energy bill" containing some relaxation of nuke requirements. I didn't look at the final bill to see whether they came to fruition. I certainly hope so.
I asked him if, in the present political climate (this was just after 9/11, and I knew the price of oil was gonna go up) if they had any plans to try to open the second one and he said no, it would be outdated by now. Bummer that. We could use some cheaper electricity in this area.
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