New Polling: 89% of Americans Want Congress to Crack-Down on Big Oil Price Gouging
Clean energy companies are the only the group Americans trust to bring down high energy prices
Washington, D.C. – A new national survey released today by Fossil Free Media, Climate Power and League of Conservation Voters finds that Democrats and progressives have the high ground in a policy debate about what to do about high energy prices.
The national survey of 1,200 registered voters, conducted April 10-15, found that Americans see Big Oil as a problem, and they put a priority on policy actions that will stop price gouging and profiteering by oil industry CEOs.
“Americans are still worried about gas prices and they want to see Big Oil held accountable. Republicans have been trying to play offense around energy prices, but it’s Democrats and progressives who have the more popular agenda. With 89% of Americans supporting a crackdown on Big Oil price gouging and 76% calling for a windfall profits tax, it’s time for Congress to finally hold this industry accountable and make polluters pay,” said Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media, which has been leading a campaign called Stop The Oil Profiteering (STOP) that advocates for an oil industry windfall profits tax.
Key findings from the survey include:
69% of Americans say that gas prices continue to be a problem for them.
Majorities of Americans blame oil industry lobbyists (55%) and oil company CEOs (59%) for making things worse.
9 in 10 Americans (89%) support leaders cracking down on oi land gas companies that engage in price gouging.
76% of Americans support passing a tax on the excess profits made by oil and gas companies.
66% of Americans disapprove of the federal government giving tax breaks and subsidies to oil and gas companies, while 78% support subsidies and tax breaks for clean energy.
When asked which people/groups were making things better or worse for consumers when it comes to energy prices, clean energy companies were the only group identified as making things better (+38), while oil companies, oil lobbyists, and oil CEOs were at the bottom of the list, only above Saudi Arabia and Vladimir Putin.
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