Poll: Two-thirds back drilling

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on May 7, 2009 - 9:38am.
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A poll shows continuing support for offshore drilling.

The survey by the conservative Civitas Institute think tank showed that 72 percent of voters support drilling at least somewhere off the coast of North Carolina.

The poll showed 41 percent support drilling as long as it is not visible from the shore, 31 percent support drilling anywhere off the coast and 22 percent did not support drilling. Six percent had no opinion.

"It appears voters overwhelmingly support drilling off the coast, whether it is a plurality that would allow it within sight of land or huge majorities allowing it somewhere off the coast," said executive director Francis De Luca.

The legislature has appointed a task force to study whether the state should allow offshore drilling. 

The live phone survey of 600 likely general election voters was conducted April 21-23 by McLaughlin and Associates of Alexandria, Va. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

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No explanation needed

Submitted by James_Protzman on May 7, 2009 - 11:41am.

It's about wishful thinking and magic. Say something often enough and it becomes true, right? That's what you do when you're part of a multi-million dollar opinion manufacturing machine. You make up stuff and get bloggers and journalists to write about it. Ta-dah.

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Best two out of three

Submitted by scharrison on May 7, 2009 - 10:53am.

Once again, Civitas has used creative questioning to produce the results they wanted. First of all, they give the respondents three choices, two of which will (later) be combined to represent the same thing: approval for drilling. But if you look at the middle, more moderate choice, which garnered a higher percent than either of the other two:

"2. Drilling for oil and natural gas should only be allowed off the coast of North Carolina if it is out of sight from the shore."

Choosing this option doesn't automatically equate to "approval". For at least some respondents anyway, this choice could easily represent the opinion, "If you're going to do it, I don't want to see it."

Most people consider themselves moderate. If given a choice between two extremes or a middle ground, they will often choose the middle, because it gives them some psychological wiggle room. Civitas knows this, and they take advantage of it.

Francis, if you're reading this, please explain how the restrictive quality of "should only be allowed" translates to "overwhelming support"?

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