Five years ago, the nation was focused on the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and now the federal government has given the okay for deepwater drilling to resume nearby. Voters are closely divided on the wisdom of this decision, but most still favor deepwater drilling in general.
Support for deepwater oil drilling has reached its highest level since the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico one year ago.
The Obama administration announced last week that it is continuing the ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along the Eastern seaboard and in the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico. Most voters expect that decision to drive up gas prices and hurt the economy.
With the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico apparently under control, the majority of U.S. voters continue to support both offshore and deepwater oil drilling.
Voters nationwide continue to support offshore oil drilling and deepwater drilling like that which caused the oil leak in the Gulf. Over recent weeks, voters have become less critical of President Obama’s response to the oil spill.
Nearly two weeks after British Petroleum (BP) sealed the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, voters are a bit less critical of the company and President Obama for their response to the disaster.
With news reports that the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico may not be nearly as bad as has been long thought, support for offshore oil drilling has tied its highest level of support since the Gulf oil leak began. Similarly, a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that support for deepwater drilling like that which caused the incident in the Gulf is up to 55%.
BP has replaced its CEO as fallout from the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico continues, but 42% believe the government would have done a worse job responding to the leak if it has been in charge of the oil company.
Voters are a little less critical this month of both President Obama and the oil companies involved for their handling of the three-month-old oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
Most Americans continue to be concerned about the overall economic impact of the Gulf oil leak, but they're less worried about gas prices rising at the pump.
With the deepwater oil leak apparently capped after three months of gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, support for both offshore oil drilling and drilling further out in deepwater remains largely unchanged. Most voters also remain concerned about the potential environmental impact of new drilling.
The U.S. government is now reportedly accepting help from a number of countries and international organizations to fight the ongoing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, but Americans aren’t enthusiastic about U.N. involvement in the offshore oil drilling debate.
Sixty percent (60%) of U.S. voters continue to support offshore oil drilling, but voters remain critical of President Obama's response to the ongoing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and are more critical than ever of how the companies involved are responding.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of Americans favor continued deepwater drilling despite the oil rig disaster that caused the ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
In recent weeks, BP has run a slew of television commercials boasting about its cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows the ads aren’t helping the company's image.
Voters are more critical than ever of President Obama's handling of the ongoing Gulf oil spill despite his Oval Office address to the nation Tuesday night laying out what the government has done and intends to do in response. In fact, they're nearly as critical of the president now as they are of BP and Transocean, the two companies responsible for the leak to begin with.
Seventy-one percent (71%) of U.S. Voters rate the government’s response to the Gulf oil leak as at least somewhat important in terms of how they will vote in November, with 35% who say it is Very Important.
Though most Americans are placing responsibility on British Petroleum (BP) to finance the cleanup of the oil rig leak in the Gulf of Mexico, they are also placing some blame on the government for not inspecting offshore rigs properly.
President Obama in his Oval Office address to the nation Tuesday night said BP is responsible not just for the environmental clean-up from the massive Gulf oil leak but also must “compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of [the] company's recklessness." He is expected to repeat that message in a meeting with top BP officials today.
Most voters continue to support offshore oil drilling, but they are becoming increasingly critical of how President Obama and the companies connected to the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico are responding to that environmental crisis. The president is scheduled to address the nation about the oil leak disaster in a nationally televised speech this evening.
