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
Also, a natural consequence of the oil price rise.
Also, a natural cause of the subsequent oil price fall soon.
Great. Bookmarking this.
Also, a natural cause of the subsequent oil price fall soon.
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I hope you are right -- but we need to move forward agressively with nuke power -- the price per kilowatt hour cannot be touched with any other method that yields the amount of power one plant alone can generate...
Having been in the nuclear industry and seen first hand how a powerful minority can stop the best technology (small is beautiful gang) I welcome this development.
:-)
I always wanted more nuke plants. I had the opportunity of sitting on the edge of a TRIGA bathtub uranium reactor and seeing the Cerenkov radiation with my own eyes as it lit up the core.
And how about a little drilling of the coasts of California and Florida!
Okay Americans...with attention spans about as long as a Road Runner cartoon...let's break ground on a whole bunch of new nuclear power plants that will be on line in about 10 years. That'll get the $3/gallon price down by Saturday. /sarc
OK, narrow it down. Find out how many support nuclear power plants in their town or their county or their state. Let's check out the NIMBY factor.
I'll be more optimistic when support grows for more refineries and more drilling. Those are the two biggest reasons, that we have control over, for the high gas prices.
exactly! I used to live in Florida. Most of my friends there, who are otherwise very conservative and pro capitalism were opposed to offshore drilling. I tried to say there is little chance of damage and that the best fishing is around the rigs. The just didn't get it. I asked them if the rigs were over the horizon and out of sight would that matter? Most just thought it was a bad idea. Now, that was about eight years ago, maybe their attitudes have changed. If it is good enough for LA and Texas, it is damn good enough for Florida and elsewhere. It's ridiculous the NIMBY crowd.
Patriot Act will be used to clear the environmental and state objections. Get ready to light up the Christmas Tree. Nuke Plants could be owned by big oil and leased to transmission companies.
Looking at the source (Rasmussen Reports), I thought this story was about WASh-1400 (joke for older nukes).
Patriot Act will be used because G@%#$T%$ this is a national security issue!
correct, this is equally as important as building more Nuke plants and offshore drilling.
A combination nuclear/desalination/electrical generating plant off the Cali coast gets my vote!
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