Efficiency First

Three “Blue Dog” districts defy conventional wisdom on attitudes toward energy reform

Back on Sept. 18, Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent reported in The Plum Line about some encouraging poll results from three Congressional districts dominated by moderate or conservative Democrats. The poll was commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund and conducted in August and September by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group to gauge public awareness of and opinions about cap and trade legislation. While many in the media and on Capitol Hill have assumed that conservative Democratic voters would not support strict caps on carbon emissions, Sargent reported that:

In Blue Dog Dem Heath Shuler’s North Carolina dictrict, cap and trade is supported by 55% of voters, versus 29% opposed.

In Blue Dog Dem Baron Hill’s Indiana district, cap and trade is supported by 45%, versus 30% opposed.

In Dem Rep. Tom Perriello’s conservative Virginia district, cap and trade is supported by 42%, versus 25% opposed.

“When the cap and trade debate heats up again,” Sargent concluded, “we’ll hear lots more about how risky it is for “marginal” Dems to support it. It’s striking how often reporters (myself included) just accept the view that such votes are risky in districts like these, simply because someone, somewhere, claimed this is the case.”

Read Greg Sargent’s post here: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/house-dems/poll-cap-and-trade-is-popular-in-conservative-dem-districts

Politico has published the complete poll results here: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM138_090918_survey.html