These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
Voters More Critical of Obama, BP For Oil Leak Response
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
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.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 61% of Likely Voters now give the companies associated with the leak - British Petroleum and Transocean - poor ratings for their response to the ongoing problem. That's up 20 points from two weeks ago and up 33 points from the beginning of May .
Only 11% give the companies' response good or excellent ratings, down from 23% two weeks ago. In early May, the companies' response received good or excellent reviews from 29%.
Americans' anger towards BP has led to a majority who say they will likely boycott the company's products .
Meanwhile, 45% now say the president is doing a poor job handling the incident. That's up 11 points from two weeks ago and 19 points at the beginning of last month. Thirty percent (30%) give the president good or excellent marks for his handling of the situation, down from 38% two weeks ago.
As of early last week, however, unhappiness with the president's handling of the oil leak was not reflected in his job approval ratings in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll .
Still, the majority of voters (57%) continue to believe offshore oil drilling should be allowed. That's little changed from the previous survey. But support for drilling is down from 64% in mid-May .
Seventy-two percent (72%) supported offshore drilling following the president's announcement at the end of March that he was lifting the ban on such drilling for the first time in years. He has since put that move on hold after the deepwater oil rig explosion that resulted in the unprecedented oil leak.
Twenty-five percent (25%) now oppose offshore drilling, up five points over the past two weeks. Another 18% are undecided.
The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on June 13-14, 2010 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 .
Most voters have consistently supported offshore oil drilling in surveys going back several years. Men remain more supportive than women of such drilling.
Republicans are a little less critical than Democrats and voters not affiliated with either major party of the companies' response to the incident, but they are more critical than other voters of the president's response.
Seventy-two percent (72%) of voters nationwide are at least somewhat concerned that new offshore oil drilling will cause environmental problems. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not concerned about this problem. These numbers include 39% who are Very Concerned and just four percent (4%) who are Not At All Concerned.
The number of voters who are concerned about the environmental impact of new drilling is up slightly from results found in May.
The vast majority of voters are still following news of the oil leak closely, with most (56%) who are following Very Closely.
Besides the obvious environmental concerns about the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, most Americans also now worry about how it will impact the economy .
A Rasmussen video report shows that 48% of adults are likely to buy a car that runs on something other than gasoline in the next 10 years.