Poll: Majority Now Opposes More Offshore Drilling

CBS

CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

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With oil continuing to stream into the Gulf, a majority of Americans - 51 percent -- say the costs and risks of increased offshore drilling are too great, according to a new CBS News poll.

That's ten points higher than one month ago and an increase of 23 points from a poll taken in August 2008, when Republican rallies regularly broke out in chants of "drill, baby, drill."

In the new poll, 40 percent said they favor increased offshore drilling. That's a drop of five points from last week and 22 points from August 2008.

Most Americans believe that BP will ultimately be successful in stopping the flow of oil - 56 percent say yes, while 29 percent say no. They do not, however, expect it to happen anytime soon.

Among those who expect BP to stop the oil flow, just 32 percent expect it to happen in the next few weeks. Roughly half say it will be in the next few months, while 14 percent way it will take longer than that.

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

Americans increasingly see the oil spill not as an isolated incident but rather part of a broader problem with offshore drilling. Last month, 51 percent saw the spill as an isolated incident. That figure has now dropped to 45 percent. The percentage that see the spill as part of a broader problem, meanwhile, has increased ten percent to match that 45 percent figure.

Most Republicans see the spill as an isolated incident, while most Democrats see it as part of an overall problem.

CBS

Americans are paying attention to the spill: Two in three say they have heard or red "a lot" about the incident, up from 56 percent last month.

As Hotsheet reported this morning, the poll also found that 63 percent of Americans believe the Obama administration should be doing more to clean up the spill. Just 28 percent say it is doing all it can.

Seventy percent, meanwhile, say BP should be doing more.

Thirty-eight percent approve of the Obama administration's handling of the spill, up slightly from last week. Forty-four percent disapprove. BP's approval rating on handling the spill has also improved slightly, but it stands at just 21 percent.

Read the Complete Poll
Poll: Obama, BP Should be Doing More on Gulf Spill

More Coverage of the Spill:

Wildlife in the Gulf
BP: Cap in Place, Oil Leak "Part of the Design"
No Apologies for Obama's Schedule during Oil Spill
Floridians Brace for "Inevitable" Arrival of Oil
Louisiana's Slimy New Reality
Oil-Covered Birds Show Distress
Oil Spill Could Hit East Coast

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 960 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone June 1-3, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[litllebit]

drill baby drill!! the problem was buying off inspectors with lavish gifts. inspect the equipment, make sure safety is top priority for humans and wild life. then drill!!!!!!!! if the rig was inspected correctly this would have been corrected and no gulf disaster

[toldyouso21]

Because the "majority" are so STUPID that they can only see the light in the tunnel when the train is already running their butts down.

[jeffinpa1234]

Why not drill in the gulf? It's now really screwed up thanks to BP - so let the oil companies have at it.

We should have been driling in Anwar - not 5,000 beneath the gulf anyway. AT least in Awar you could get to the problem and stop it quickly - if a problem occurred unlike the mess in the Gulf.

Instead we go after the most difficult oil first. How screwed up is this for an energy policy. Our government is full of hot air in our energy overall energy policies!!!!

[smoknmirrors]

so your logic is that it is safe to drill in Anwar because it is unsafe to drill in the Gulf? Or is it that the devastating consequences of the Gulf drilling debacle would not be devastating in Anwar, and you know this to be true because? Or perhaps you are saying that the people who demonstrated such incompetence and deception in the Gulf could be trusted to do better in Anwar because those who cannot be trusted in large things can be trusted in smaller things?

[edeltraud-2009]

then lets get rid of that old stuff in Washington.an as far as the far right .the will do or say anything to get what the want . Power an Money.
look at that ***** Palin .she has no Brain ,but she got a big big Mouth

[edeltraud-2009]

then lets get rid of that old stuff in Washington.an as far as the far right .the will do or say anything to get what the want . Power an Money.
look at that ***** Palin .she has no Brain ,but she got a big big Mouth

[Rodeo_Joe]

Ever hear of Hybrid or Electric cars?

What's in your wallet?

[user000049586849302948602]

Yes, also buy as locally as possible eg farmers markets and let's get some commuter trains on the EXISTING rail lines.

[LIBERALS-lie]

HEY LIBERALS

ITS ALL OBAMA'S fault..

[pasmalltown]

Hey conservatives, why is it that when private industry screws up, it's all the gov'ts fault, yet when private industry is running along smoothly, it's too much gov't oversight?

[user000049586849302948602]

I really don't think very many people think Obama is very liberal at all. He's seems kind of middle-of-the-road to me.

[stormerF3]

Had the Government not insisted they drill so far off shore,and let them drill in 300 ft instead of 5000 ft the well would have been capped in 2 days. We use 814 million gallons of gasoline a day,and have ove 3,564 producing off shre wells,that employee around 9 million people,we are not going to stop. We are going to fix the problem and move on that is waht Americans do. We do not give up and go whine in the corner,and We are not the Cowards our Prsident has become. We stand up for our laws not just the ones we like.

[lmartink]

The real clincher in this discussion is how little oil we get from these disastrous underwater sources. According to the CATO institute, if we maximized domestic production to its fullest extent -- we would still only produce 4.2% of what we use every day. 4.2% It's not worth it.

It's time once again, to move to alternative energies. How big does the writing on the wall need to be? Why did some of these people go to work for the oil companies? Have they no sense?

[stormerF3]

The CATO institute is wrong,as usual they said we would run out of oil in 10 years,but looks like we have more oil than we can ever use,we have not even tapped the ANWAR reserve nor the South and North Dakota plot.

[user000049586849302948602]

@stormerF3

Ha ha! Why not just up and show your ignorance, dude? Some experts think world oil production is already in decline while most believe that peek production will occur no later than 2020. Meanwhile, demand is increasing geometrically.

[ktorrent]

I get tired of all the calls about conserving energy, as if we aren't already doing this. I think there is real issue of possible corruption on Obama's side. He had ties to the company, saw the spill and did nothing and now is using it to support his agenda. He's using the spill in his conniving now. I want an investigation on the ties between Obama and the spill and his agenda. There's a relationship.

[hakori]

ktorrent, whatever! I bet you weren't complaining whene Cheney made secret energy policy behind closed doors with the major oil companies, including BP! Let me remind you of something: Cheney/Bush were oil men! You can take your "investigation" you want and stuff it up the arse of "drill baby drill"!!!!!