Despite all the protests and all the lobbying efforts by environmental groups against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, major polling organizations are showing "broad public support for the project." I was alarmed when I saw this morning the latest Pew Research poll finding that 66 percent of Americans support Keystone, including 54% of Democrats.
As the Obama administration approaches a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, a national survey finds broad public support for the project. Two-thirds of Americans (66%) favor building the pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada’s oil sands region through the Midwest to refineries in Texas. Just 23% oppose construction of the pipeline.
Support for the pipeline spans most demographic and partisan groups. Substantial majorities of Republicans (82%) and independents (70%) favor building the Keystone XL pipeline, as do 54% of Democrats. But there is a division among Democrats: 60% of the party’s conservatives and moderates support building the pipeline, compared with just 42% of liberal Democrats.
A Gallup poll, also conducted in March,
showed 57 percent of Americans favor Keystone XL.
A solid majority of Americans think the U.S. government should approve of building the Keystone XL pipeline, while 29% think it should not. Republicans are almost twice as likely as Democrats to want the government to approve the oil pipeline. About half of independents also approve.
However, a Public Policy Polling survey commissioned by the Center for Biological Diversity,
found the opposite: that a majority of Americans - 53 percent - oppose the pipeline.
Opposition was particularly strong among those who voted for President Barack Obama last year: 68 percent oppose building the pipeline, 76 percent are concerned about its contribution to climate change, and 57 percent believe approval would break the president's State of the Union vow to fight climate change.
Once again, we have the dueling polls problem. I realize Pew and Gallup have had their share of critics, but still, these findings are stunning. I couldn't find how PPP worded its questions regarding Keystone, but the Pew and Gallup questioning was pretty general. However, another part of the Gallup poll may provide some clues as to what's going on. Gallup asked survey participants how much they were paying attention to news about Keystone. The results were that most Americans care very little, if any, about it at all:
But of those Americans who are paying attention to news coverage of the pipeline, Keystone still gets the thumbs up from 70 percent of Americans:
Yet perhaps what Americans see in the news about Keystone XL is a somewhat skewed picture in favor of the project. The media watchdog group Media Matters did a study confirming this:
A Media Matters analysis shows that as a whole, news coverage of the Keystone XL pipeline between August 1 and December 31 favored pipeline proponents. Although the project would create few long-term employment opportunities, the pipeline was primarily portrayed as a jobs issue. Pro-pipeline voices were quoted more frequently than those opposed, and dubious industry estimates of job creation were uncritically repeated 5 times more often than they were questioned. Meanwhile, concerns about the State Department's review process and potential environmental consequences were often overlooked, particularly by television outlets. [Emphasis mine.]
This shouldn't surprise any of us who have been critical of mainstream media coverage of important issues affecting Americans. But it does point out a monumental problem for environmental activists when it comes to public opinion on Keystone. If polls showing Keystone to have broad public support do present an accurate picture of public opinion, then approving the pipeline wouldn't be a political problem for President Obama or the Democrats (of course, then, the Earth will be screwed). An activist friend of mine suggested that environmental groups should change tactics and start protesting in front of CNN. Maybe she's right.