Rasmussen: 64% now support offshore drilling
posted at 2:30 pm on August 11, 2008 by Allahpundit
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The bad news: Today’s numbers are actually down three points from when Rasmussen polled a similar question two months ago. The good news: Poll after poll puts support for drilling at above 60 percent, with fully 37 percent of potential Obama voters on board — the same percentage, you’ll recall, as the number of Democrats who want to, er, nationalize the oil industry. The better news:
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that over half (55%) agree with [McCain's] proposal to build more nuclear plants, although 32% disagree…
More than twice as many likely McCain voters (73%) like his idea of building more nuclear plants versus 35% of potential Obama voters. Similarly, 72% of men favor building more plants as opposed to only 40% of women.
I’ve always thought drilling was politically feasible but that new nuclear power really isn’t, thanks to green paranoia. But this is now the second poll in the last few months to show a clear majority in favor of it; Opinion Dynamics found a 51/41 split on building new plants back in June, with Dems almost evenly divided. I wonder why the House GOP isn’t making a bigger deal about it now that they have a moment alone in the spotlight. Gingrich, who’s at the tip of the spear on this issue, has blessed it repeatedly; it’s politically useful as a way of proving to centrists that the Republican solution to all things energy isn’t always oiiiiiiiiillllll; and it turns the tables on the left by appealing to global warming worriers as a conscientious alternative to carbon-producing energy schemes. And hey — the French love it. Coming soon to the Republican House pageant: Mike Pence in a beret pointing with a baguette at a placard reading, “Go nuclear.”
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McCain is winning the energy debate (however Obama is counter attacking with the big oil smear) And with this Russian Invasion he can start to win the Foreign Policy debate.
William Amos on August 11, 2008 at 2:33 PM
We can’t drill our way out of this problem. Everyone else can, but we can’t.
Akzed on August 11, 2008 at 2:36 PM
Three out of five support using Pelosi as a fuel rod.
whitetop on August 11, 2008 at 2:37 PM
FYI – PELOSI IS GOING TO BE ON LARRY KING LIVE TONIGHT.
CP on August 11, 2008 at 2:38 PM
Hmmm… this is really weird…
Oil prices are not spikeing today, even with a huge oil pipeline in Georgia threatened by war…
Romeo13 on August 11, 2008 at 2:39 PM
But, wasn’t there a story recently about how off-shore drilling would release 300 trillion tons of CO2, triggering the appearance of the twelfth imam and a global apocalypse?
We need the Goracle to settle this.
Ares on August 11, 2008 at 2:41 PM
The 32% that don’t support nuclear energy don’t have a clue what it really is.
volsense on August 11, 2008 at 2:44 PM
It’s down, in fact.
amerpundit on August 11, 2008 at 2:47 PM
So what? She gets her free time to blather again on how she is against drilling, how she is trying to save the planet, how we need to get off of oil, how McCain is wrong, Bush is the AntiChrist, etc etc etc.
Now, if Larry King had any balls, he’d throw her off track by asking her “By the way, how is your friend Cindy Sheehan these days?”
pilamaye on August 11, 2008 at 2:49 PM
Awesome, I can’t wait for Larry to scold Pelosi and pressure her into answers for Congress’ inaction.
/sarc off
cntrlfrk on August 11, 2008 at 2:49 PM
Then he and the erst of the GOP need to attack the energy issue from another angle. Or ratherseveral angles.
1. Massive royalty income to the US that would come from increased domestic supplies. Can be used for R&D for alternatives, pay down debt, etc.
2. Massive reduction in the trade deficit.
3. US jobs – hundreds of thousands of good paying, blue collar jobs.
4. Stop the funding of terrorists, Islamic sovereign wealth funds, and 3rd world thugs like Chavez
And there are many other reasons as well. Move past the supply issue and tout the other benefits. How can Obama counter these obvious benefits?
DerKrieger on August 11, 2008 at 2:50 PM
Are Nuclear Plants potentially more dangerous to the American Population that the terrorist threat?
I think not.
The terrorist threat will diminsh greatly as soon as we stop payng terrorist supporting countries for their oil.
Build the plants, drill for oil and just for good measure, put windmills where Uncle Teddy can see them from his front porch.
EJDolbow on August 11, 2008 at 2:51 PM
If not nuclear then what? If not coal or natural gas then what? Just what do the eco-Marxists propose we use to power our country? Wind and solar will never be able to do any more than supplement peak energy demand.
DerKrieger on August 11, 2008 at 2:52 PM
FYI-PELOSER IS GOING TO BE ON LARRY KING LIVE TONIGHT.
CP ON August 11,2008 AT 2:39pm
I hope they have as many viewers as bought her book. Too bad she had to sell out the vote on drilling in order to make a book tour on her new book that hasn’t sold enough books to pay for her gas. Has to be humiliating to be the most powerful woman in the world (in her mind) and nobody care.
volsense on August 11, 2008 at 2:54 PM
too late, she’s already spent
trubble on August 11, 2008 at 2:55 PM
Pelosi is appearing on Larry King opposite the Olympics on NBC. Why, no one is going to be watching. Book sales must be really bad.
meci on August 11, 2008 at 2:58 PM
I wonder how much of that 64% lives along the coast and how many of those are actually NIMBYs who are all in favor of offshore drilling until it comes to “their” coast.
highhopes on August 11, 2008 at 2:58 PM
The demonization of nuclear power really needs to stop.
crazy_legs on August 11, 2008 at 2:59 PM
I just wonder if they’ll be taking any live phone calls? If so, they should get flooded with people demanding answers.
CP on August 11, 2008 at 3:00 PM
And there will be a follow-up segment with Angie Dickinson.
/sarc
brtex on August 11, 2008 at 3:03 PM
People don’t(can’t) think anymore, that explains the drop. They run on emotion, ’save the planet’ and that sort of stuff. You destroy people’s fact base with government education, you destroy their ability to reason correctly — Or do rudimentary science, chemistry and math for that matter.
How else can you explain “pay more in taxes so government can pretend to control the weather” — No one ever asks how would they know the government is doing anything except spending the money.
tarpon on August 11, 2008 at 3:03 PM
They not only “love it” – they are damn good at it. They perfected and standardized the industry, with reactors+ being the same, so they can easily address difficulties, and we could actually learn much from them.
France supplies so many European countries with this clean and safe source of energy.
If the Repubs don’t do something about this soon, watch Obama grab the issue right from under their nose, to the far lefties’ chagrin and revolt, but who cares about them?
Crediting the French would endear him instantly to the world…wait he’s already endeared…but their hypocrisy w/b sweeter and thicker than molasses, the ‘green’ ones that they are.
Entelechy on August 11, 2008 at 3:04 PM
Heh, maybe the two of them, together, will account for the “live” part.
Entelechy on August 11, 2008 at 3:07 PM
Is Botox fissile?
SlimyBill on August 11, 2008 at 3:17 PM
It is immensely irksome to me that the GOP never stress this.
Esp. in Alaska where the infrastructure tasks would be large and governmental and hence, union.
SlimyBill on August 11, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Larry King will be the one wearing glasses, in case you need help telling them apart.
Brass Pair on August 11, 2008 at 3:22 PM
I think she’d be more suitable as burnable poison.
Oldnuke on August 11, 2008 at 3:22 PM
Peloser is not listening. She has more important things to do; save the planet and try to get to #2000 on the NYT Best Sellers list. She must be suffering from the same disease as the Goracle.
volsense on August 11, 2008 at 3:27 PM
I live on the Jersey Shore. I’ll take cheap gas and oil rigs over the summer tourists and casinos any day.
bloviator on August 11, 2008 at 3:32 PM
Might want to rethink that. Check out this at the NRC website. This one might be a little easier to read, also from the NRC website.
I think South Texas will be first on-line but there are quite a few that are well along. Dominion is set to break ground next year for their new unit.
Oldnuke on August 11, 2008 at 3:33 PM
I predict 2,700 viewers or the number of people who bought her stupid book… Pelosi and King…good grief! CNN really is dead air tv…
sabbott on August 11, 2008 at 3:35 PM
I live at the Jersey Shore. I’ll take cheap gas and oil rigs over the tourists & casinos any day. The oil rigs are cleaner and less polluting too.
bloviator on August 11, 2008 at 3:35 PM
64%?
Down from a high of 70% last month?
What happened?
Some of them low information voters actually read up a tad maybe?
alphie on August 11, 2008 at 3:47 PM
Here is something to think about — Just think what could be if the USA were to decide to build nuclear reactors on an assembly line like they are now commencing to do in China. The Chinese have selected the USA design AP-1000 reactor, and plan on building 2 a year.
What does the assembly line do for you … Many things. It improves quality, reduces construction times, and improves safety having critical parts built at a fixed location with the same experienced crews. In short, it is a big winner.
Instead, we have Sen Reid saying he is going to shut down nuclear power by blocking Yucca Mountain start up.
But — That’s why China is doing it. Meanwhile, we are told to watch Larry King.
tarpon on August 11, 2008 at 3:50 PM
While we have been ignoring our energy problems, science has been moving on.
Pebble Bed reactors are likely safer and provide better disposal scenarios.
http://pebblebedreactor.blogspot.com/2007/01/mit-drives-much-pebble-bed-reactor.html
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA365756
OBQuiet on August 11, 2008 at 3:52 PM
We can’t inflate our way out of this. That’s just ignorant.
Drill here, drill now, more beer money for me.
JammieWearingFool on August 11, 2008 at 3:54 PM
There is already legislation in place that gives incentives to the next generation of nuclear plants.
The NRC has applications for ten (10) reactors in initial stages of a new licensing process that gives fewer opportunities for frivolous law suits to delay new reactors. See http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactor-licensing.html
The only remaining legislative roadblock is the need to have a solution in places for high-level radioactive waste.
Harry Reid has and will obstruct Yucca Mountain at every opportunity. JUst vote out the Democrats and store the high-level waste at Dingy Harry’s house until Yucca Mountain is open for storage.
Right_of_Attila on August 11, 2008 at 3:54 PM
You really think so? Aggressive diplomacy hasn’t worked out too well so far.
Buy Danish on August 11, 2008 at 3:55 PM
That’s exactly right. This energy issue is to McCain’s campaign like manna fallen from heaven. And he’s putzing around with it like it’ll drive itself and run forever. But dollar to a donut says Team Obama’s hard at work figuring out how to pre-empt the issue for their candidate, along the lines you suggest.
McCain better seize this issue fast, and use it to polarize folks on the economy, before Obama has time to weasel out of the corner he’s in regarding energy.
petefrt on August 11, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Oops: NRC already has COL applications for 15 reactors.
It’s been a while since I checked & counted 2-unit applications.
Right_of_Attila on August 11, 2008 at 3:58 PM
Yucca mountain will have no effect on starting new nuke units. The industry has already compensated.
Oldnuke on August 11, 2008 at 3:58 PM
I live on the gulf, welcome the fish attractors. I lived in Mississippi a long time ago, used to fish the rigs when we went out. Big sport is fishing the deep water rigs for tuna at the Mississippi River outlet. We had a straight shot right out of Gulfport.
BTW: There are two nuclear reactors just up the road, about 75 miles as the crow flies from my house. They have plans on the table for two additional nuclear generating units at the same location.
tarpon on August 11, 2008 at 3:59 PM
And don’t insist on wandering the shore with pasty white skin stuffed into a halter-top three sizes too small! ;-0
highhopes on August 11, 2008 at 4:02 PM
Oldnuke, mostly true about the compensated part. But there is an increasing need for nuclear waste storage that is safer than at the plants. The scare tactic of the left that there is no place to put the nuclear waste is a sure way to gen up fear.
We could try our hand at reprocessing, but wait for it, there is a law against that — How clever are we. Even France reprocesses and reuses their nuclear fuel.
And about all those high paying jobs all this USA energy renaissance would create, wouldn’t that be grand.
tarpon on August 11, 2008 at 4:04 PM
I’d say the Gulf states, particularly here in Louisiana “gets it.” I’m just wondering how it will play off the Virginia/NC coast for example.
highhopes on August 11, 2008 at 4:04 PM
It’s harder to get much safer than this.
Bear in mind that the picture is from a DOE site. The last sentence about only being a temporary measure is just government trying to remain relevant. Those casks will sit there for a thousand years if necessary. Their footprint is tiny and they require almost no maintenance. In some cases they’re outside the protected area of the plant.
I don’t think there’s a law against reprocessing. I think it’s a presidential executive order suspending it. In any case it would be beneficial but not necessary.
Which plant is close to you?
Oldnuke on August 11, 2008 at 4:17 PM
It’s hard to say how people will react but $4 a gallon gas was a wakeup call for everybody. Besides if it helps fishing and provides oil I think people will get used to it.
Oldnuke on August 11, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Am I the only one disheartened by a 15-cent drop in gas prices because it might decrease the pressure on Dems to enact centrist policies?
craig on August 11, 2008 at 4:37 PM
Oldnuke — Turkey Point is right down the road on the way to the FL Keys. I saw at one of the nuclear blog sites that there were now 19 reactors on the list for approval nationwide … The four new units for Florida are moving along.
Reprocessing — You are right, it’s a executive order against reprocessing and reusing spent fuel. It started with Ford and was issued in the Carter Administration at about the time frame of the Three Mile Island accident. So Bush could rescind that as well … Would be a good move to start reprocessing up in the USA. Looks like work in progress already http://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RS22542.pdf — It looks like it was part of the 2005 energy bill.
tarpon on August 11, 2008 at 4:42 PM
I did an industry inspection at Turkey Point once back in the 90s. Something we did to share experience and expand the group knowledge base. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that reprocessing thing. After all the gumm’nt is involved. I don’t have a good feel for how cost effective it would be. It was never an issue so we didn’t pay much attention to it. Once upon a time we were going to start using fuel that was enriched with surplus plutonium from the weapons stockpile. This would have effectively eliminated it as a potential terrorist source. The government was going to give it to the industry gratis all we had to do was stick it in an assembly. It was too much of a political hot potato and never became a reality for us. I think Duke Energy tried it and had some problems but don’t know how it turned out.
Oldnuke on August 11, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Her personality is more suited to being an inanimate carbon rod.
Frozen Tex on August 11, 2008 at 6:03 PM
We CAN announce our way out of the current issue. The moment the traitorcrats ANNOUNCE they support drilling, the price drops to $30 a barrel overnight.
dogsoldier on August 11, 2008 at 6:24 PM
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Nancy PLO-si.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on August 11, 2008 at 6:40 PM
Nah, the price of crude fell, and thus the one at the pump, for many days in a row now…dollar value going up drastically in the last few days…hopefully we’re not settling into après Carter complacency, again…
Entelechy on August 11, 2008 at 9:08 PM
Come on now, let’s stop wasting our time talking about domestic drilling. All we need to do is elect Barry and voila! he will release all the secret development and production plans for cars getting 150 mpg. We’ll easily have 1MM of them on the road in no time at all.
We’ll be all set without having to poke a single new hole into mama earth.
in_awe on August 12, 2008 at 11:35 AM
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