Despite Weak Economy, New Poll Data Shows California Voters Strongly Support Policies to Implement Global Warming Solutions Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             

Contact:
Derek Walker, (916) 492-7169, dbwalker@edf.org           
Sean Crowley, (202) 572-3331, scrowley@edf.org
 
(Sacramento, CA – June 23, 2008) Three days before the California Air Resources Board (CARB) releases its draft scoping plan for the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), a new poll shows nearly three out of four voters (73 percent) support state energy policies to reduce global warming pollution. Despite the weak economy, nearly six out of 10 voters (58 percent) support these energy policies even if they result in higher prices, according to the poll commissioned by the non-partisan nonprofit research organization Next 10 (http://www.next10.org/about/press.html) and conducted by Fairbanks, Maslin, Maullin & Associates.
 
“The message from voters in this poll is crystal clear: don’t delay implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act,” said Derek Walker, Director of the California Climate Initiative at Environmental Defense Fund, which cosponsored the groundbreaking law. “Californians understand that immediate action is needed to transform California’s economy and protect our state from global warming. Any lawmaker who supports delaying AB 32 will hear strong opposition from their constituents and is risking a backlash at the polls in November.”
 
Support for the proposed state policy package ran strong across party and ethnic lines: 
  • Nine out of 10 Democrats (91 percent), more than eight out of 10 Independents (85 percent) and more than six out of 10 Republicans (61 percent) surveyed support the state’s package of policies to reduce global warming emissions
  • More than three out of four White voters (76 percent), more than eight of out 10 Latino voters (86 percent) and more than eight out of 10 of all voters of color (86 percent) polled support the proposed package
  • More than eight out of 10 voters (83 percent) say reducing global warming will require “action from all of us, and I am ready to make some changes”

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