What Do Voters Want?

San Francisco, CA -- A new poll shows, unsurprisingly, that Americans think global warming is a big problem, want their government to act to solve it, and think that ideas like more efficient cars and trucks, renewable energy and efficiency will be good for today's economy and tomorrow's climate. But if you look at how cautious politicians in Washington are being about global warming, they don't seem to believe the polls. This may be because these poll numbers reflect a very dramatic change in public sentiment. It turns out, however, that the voters candidates really care about -- the swing independents -- are even fiercer about a new energy future than partisans of either the Democratic or Republican persuasion.

Take the issue of clean electricity. Republicans(60%) and Democrats (64%) both favor a 25% renewables mandate (10% more than the Congress is even debating). But Independents are off the charts at 71%. This is true even though Independents, on the issue of whether we have a little time left to act on global warming, are slightly less concerned than Democrats, if more than Republicans.

Even if you focus on demographic segments often cited as a reason for politicians to vote against energy innovation, the numbers in favor of progress are staggering. Another recent poll, this one of pickup truck drivers, for example, found that, "Eighty-three percent ... favor requiring the auto industry to increase fuel efficiency standards for cars, SUVs, and their own vehicles, with 70 percent 'strongly' favoring such an increase. Just 9 percent of pickup owners oppose an increase."

This makes sense. After all, if Hollywood actors can buy fuel-efficient hybrids, which are clearly not a matter of economic need for them, why don't we give plumbers and ranchers who use their Ford 250's to make a living the same option?

So what's happening here? My guess is that Independents are even fonder of the solutions to global warming than partisan voters, because they are the most suspicious that politicians of both parties are just listening to their campaign contributors and not to the pickup drivers who are often cited as a reason for inaction.

The closer the voters get to the politicians, the less crippling this problem gets. So cities and states keep accelerating their progress, even while Congress and the White House dither. The latest interesting developments are from Colorado, which doubled its renewable energy goals, and Iowa, which passed the Governor's $100 million clean energy program.

But Washington is still paralyzed by the fact that more than two-thirds of the Republican House members claim they don't even believe in global warming, while the White House takes pride in the fact that we are cooking the planet slightly less rapidly than we were five years ago.