Majority of Likely Voters Support Expanded Offshore Drilling

Created: October 27, 2010 09:07 | Last updated: July 31, 2020 00:00

Despite the massive Gulf oil spill, the majority of likely voters would support proposals to expand offshore oil and gas drilling, according to a new poll.

The poll comes as the Obama administration has overturned a moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf and imposed new safety rules on oil companies. The moratorium was put into place in the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill.

The poll — conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, National Journal and the Pew Research Center from Oct. 21-24 –finds that 59 percent of likely voters would approve of ”allowing more offshore oil and gas drilling.” Just 35 percent would disapprove.

In addition, the National Journal says, “Republicans in the registered sample were twice as likely as Democrats to favor expanded drilling, with independents almost exactly in the middle.”