Environmental group claims poll on climate bill shows support for incumbent Democrats

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund says new poll data shows that voters in regions with competitive House races prefer incumbent Democrats who support legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The group’s survey looked at 23 congressional districts where the incumbent House Democrat voted in favor of last year’s contentious cap-and-trade bill. However, the survey did not specifically reference that bill or use the term “cap and trade” in questioning.

NRDC is touting the survey as finding that, in 21 of the polled races, a “clear” majority of voters were more likely to support incumbents who supported energy legislation that creates jobs and limits greenhouse gas emissions. The survey found essentially a statistical tie between voter preferences for Reps. Zack Space (D-Ohio) and Harry Teague (D-N.M.) and their Republican opponents.

“Our poll presented our opposition's main, misleading talking point — that a climate bill is akin to an energy tax,” NRDC Action Fund Director Heather Taylor-Miesle said in a prepared statement.

In a conference call with reporters, Taylor-Miesle said the poll pitted the arguments on “clean energy” and climate change legislation against each other. She said the message of critics “has really fed into a storyline that somehow support for clean energy legislation has become a tough sell and could in fact cause some people to lose” in the election.

The respondents in the survey were asked to take sides. On the one hand, they were presented the argument in favor of the climate change bill: that it would “move America towards a new energy future, including investments in wind and solar power” and “create millions of new jobs, reduce our use of foreign oil, hold corporate polluters accountable and cut the pollution that causes climate change.”

The survey also gave respondents the option of agreeing with the legislation’s opponents, who “say the bill will cost companies money and is like an energy tax that would actually reduce jobs.”

Wesley Warren, director of programs for NRDC Action Fund, said the phrase “cap and trade” was deliberately left out of the polls because it’s “kind of a jargon term.”  He said pollsters “tried to avoid the labels and just put the issue out there … in the simplest way possible.”

Warren said additional polling was also done, including in certain Senate races. He said the group may release those additional polling results by Election Day but noted that they were “not really dramatically at odds” with the House results.

Environmental groups have sought to step up their campaign efforts of late to save embattled Democrats.

Since the summer, the NRDC Action Fund has largely focused on helping Ohio Democratic Reps. John Boccieri and Betty Sutton. The group also has been involved in 17 other House races, Taylor-Miesle said. 

The NRDC survey was conducted in the districts of the following House Democrats: Boccieri; Jerry McNerney (Calif.-11); Betsy Markey (Colo.-4); Allen Boyd (Fla.-2); Suzanne Kosmas (Fla.-24); Alan Grayson (Fla.-8); Leonard Boswell (Iowa-3); Debbie Halvorson (Ill.-11); Phil Hare (Ill.-17); Frank Kratovil (Md.-1); Mark Schauer (Mich.-7); Carol Shea-Porter (N.H.-1); Teague (N.M.-2); Dina Titus (Nev.-3); John Hall (N.Y.-19); Steve Driehaus (Ohio-1); Mary Jo Kilroy (Ohio-15); Space (Ohio-18); Paul Kanjorski (Pa.-11); Patrick Murphy (Pa.-8); John Spratt (S.C.-5); Tom Perriello (Va.-5); and Steve Kagen (Wis.-8).

The survey was conducted by Public Policy Polling between Oct. 8 and 15.

http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/polls/october2010/