A majority of U.S. adults back mandatory controls on greenhouse gas emissions, but support is far higher among Democrats than Republicans, according to a newly released Gallup poll.
The survey conducted March 8-11 finds that 65 percent of adults surveyed support mandatory greenhouse gas controls.
Eighty-two percent of Democrats and 50 percent of Republicans support controls, according to the poll.
Despite the split, the findings suggest that, as a whole, GOP lawmakers oppose carbon emissions controls more than their constituents.
Here is the link at Gallup. The problem with these questions is that they are not explicit about the cost of the proposals. My guess is that if respondents were asked about controls on emissions that would raise their electric bill by 10% or so the percentage of those in support would fall. And raising the cost to 20%, etc, would reduce support further. I've never quite understood why polling firms don't ask these better questions.
