The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the next in a series of Rasmussen Reports polls in the Sunshine State which seem to indicate that residents are far less opposed to offshore drilling to increase fuel supplies than they used to be.
A Florida poll taken by Rasmussen Reports Wednesday, after Republican presidential candidate John McCain first called for lifting a 27-year-old ban on U.S. offshore drilling, found that 61% of respondents agreed with him that drilling would lower gas prices. A third of respondents agreed with likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama that lifting the ban “wouldn’t do a thing” to lower gas prices. Sen. Obama opposes offshore drilling.
As someone who enjoys political theater, this is one of the more interesting and ironic twists of the election season. The conventional wisdom this cycle had held that a poorly performing economy – presumably including gas prices – would work against the Republicans and bolster Barack Obama’s chances in the fall. However, this apparent shifting tide of opinions about drilling for new domestic energy supplies has some Democratic observers rightly nervous.
Gov. Crist said he merely wants to lower energy costs and that only environmentally safe extraction will do.
Polls indicate that he and Sen. McCain may have made the right move. The Rasmussen poll surveyed respondents on the presidential candidates twice in the same interview — once before they knew the candidates’ respective positions on drilling and again after being told. The poll showed that upon learning of Sen. McCain’s call for more drilling, respondents in the second set of results boosted their support for him over Sen. Obama by two percentage points, to 49% to 38%. Florida will be a critical state in the November election.
The Democrats clearly don’t want to make a move which will overtly annoy their eco-minded, pro-wildlife base, but if gas makes it to five dollars a gallon, Floridians may well start loading up rowboats with pickaxes and heading out to sea themselves. Either of the candidates can, in theory, carve out an electoral map win without Florida, but neither of them wants to put that theory to the test if it can be avoided. With the rude reality of energy needs driving Florida voters closer to “drill here, drill now” and further from coastal sanctity, Obama may need to think up a new strategy if he wants to carry the Sunshine State.