28% Are Willing To Pay Higher Utility Bills to Reduce Coal Usage
A top White House adviser said yesterday that there is nothing Congress can do to stop President Obama from reducing coal plant emissions, even though industry officials insist this will close power plants and drive up energy costs. Most voters are unwilling to pay more to reduce coal usage for energy production, but they’re evenly divided when asked if America should start phasing out coal-fired plants.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 20% of Likely U.S. Voters correctly recognize that 40% of America’s electricity is now being produced by coal-burning power plants. Forty-three percent (43%) believe coal produces more of the nation’s electric power than that, with 16% who peg it at 80%. Just 13% think coal-fueled plants produce less than 40% of the country’s electricity, but 24% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on May 1-2, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.