Poll: 8 in 10 Want Drivers to Drop SUVs

[vansmack]

Poll: 8 in 10 Want Drivers to Drop SUVs
 
 - By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer
 Thursday, September 15, 2005
 (09-15) 11:58 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
 
 Eight in 10 people say it's important for Americans now driving sport utility vehicles to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles to reduce the nation's dependence on oil, a poll found.
 
 With gas prices hovering around $3 a gallon nationally and the price of natural gas rising sharply, six in 10 said they are not confident President Bush is taking the right approach to solving the nation's energy problems, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
 
 Given several choices for dealing with energy problems, the public has some clear preferences:
 
 _Almost seven in 10 want the government to establish price controls on gasoline and want more spending on subway, rail and bus systems.
 
 _Just over seven in 10 want to give tax cuts to companies to develop wind, solar and hydrogen energy.
 
 _Just over eight in 10 want higher fuel efficiency required for cars, trucks and SUVs.
 
 _Slightly more than half, 52 percent, favor giving tax cuts to energy companies to explore for more oil.
 
 The rising anxiety over high gas prices has caused a shift in public priorities about the importance of exploring for new energy.
 
 Almost six in 10 now say exploring for new sources of energy is more important than protecting the environment. People were evenly split on that question in 2002. Half now support drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska â?? up from 42 percent who felt that way in March.
 
 Only four in 10 wanted to promote the increased use of nuclear power, while slightly more than half opposed that step.
 
 The Pew poll of 1,523 adults was taken Sept. 8-11 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Fuck that, man. Escalades for everybody.

[walkonby]

Originally posted by Xavier Bush, Power Forward:
  Fuck that, man. Escalades for everybody.

fuck that, man.  double decker hummers.

[godsshoeshine]

i've said for years that suvs were the work of the devil. being a nonchristian, no one really believed me

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Fuck that, man. Ben's Chili Bowl.
 
 

Originally posted by walkonby:
   

Originally posted by Xavier Bush, Power Forward:
  Fuck that, man. Escalades for everybody.

fuck that, man.  double decker hummers. [/b]

[kosmo vinyl]

fuck em they should be forced to keep them and have to pay a idiot tax for buying them in the first place.

[walkonby]

Originally posted by Xavier Bush, Power Forward:
  Fuck that, man. Ben's Chili Bowl.
 
   

Originally posted by walkonby:
   

Originally posted by Xavier Bush, Power Forward:
  Fuck that, man. Escalades for everybody.

fuck that, man.  double decker hummers. [/b]

[/b]

but if people drove ben's chili bowl, they'd be accused of trying to be black.

[Jaguär]

If 8 in 10 people want SUVs dropped than why does it seem that 8 in 10 people are buying the damned things!?

[ggw]

Originally posted by vansmack:
 _Almost seven in 10 want the government to establish price controls on gasoline
 

Price controls on gasoline would actually cause people to use more fuel than they would if they actually had to pay the real price.  This would discourage people from giving up their SUVs and would likely lead to fuel shortages and rationing.
 
 Did we learn nothing from the 1970s?

[chaz]

Originally posted by Jaguär:
  If 8 in 10 people want SUVs dropped than why does it seem that 8 in 10 people are buying the damned things!?

Shit...groups hire pros to put together these polls......they can usually quantify just about any spin they want if they know what they're doing....

[Jaguär]

Originally posted by Chaz, Lover of all Forum Members:
   

Originally posted by Jaguär:
  If 8 in 10 people want SUVs dropped than why does it seem that 8 in 10 people are buying the damned things!?

Shit...groups hire pros to put together these polls......they can usually quantify just about any spin they want if they know what they're doing.... [/b]

Yeah, I know. My question was more rhetorical than anything.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by Chaz, Lover of all Forum Members:
  Shit...groups hire pros to put together these polls......they can usually quantify just about any spin they want if they know what they're doing....

While I agree with you, the Pew Trust has a fairly decent reputation as a credible, independent non-profit research organization.
 
 As a matter of fact, their founders made their money in oil over 50 years ago, so to say that Americans want oil conservation only helps to prove their independence.

[muschi]

all i can say to these ppl in the article "well, duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" no shit really??? ya just realized that now huh einstein?!

[Bags]

Originally posted by Jaguär:
  If 8 in 10 people want SUVs dropped than why does it seem that 8 in 10 people are buying the damned things!?

My question exactly.  Currently 60% of vehicles sold are SUVs.  I realize they are still outnumbered by cars already on the road, but that 8 in 10 figure seems way too high.
 
 By the way, of all the things that folks now want to happen are happening:
 
  - duh, tax incentives for oil & gas producers -- only farmers get more incentives (well, farmers get actual SUBSIDIES)
 
 - price controls on gas -- hello, we're just now starting to get close to paying what every other nation in the world does, gas has been so highly subsidized in the US.  The only way to get behavior changes (ie, the exertion of demand responding to prices) is for prices to go up and stay up.
 
 - tax cuts for developing wind/solar/hdro -- there are oodles, but those folks in new england won't let no companies build no wind 4 miles off their coast, it might interfere in their views!!
 
 - higher fuel efficiency -- it's all well and good to ask for it, but  you as the public have to BUY vehicles with some semblance of fuel efficiency.  Again, 60% of vehicles sold today are SUVs.
 
  - Christ, there's so little oil in ANWR (though there's loads of natural gas, which would make some sense)
 
 - And last, the least favored option is probably the most likely to happen -- NUCLEAR.  Not new nuclear, but there's lots around than can be put back in to operation.

[muschi]

nukes. reminds me when i was in skool in boston. im liberal -- but this chick at a table at a fair or something was espousing some anti-nuclear crap then i walked up and said "but fossil fuels emit far more pollution and hazards on far more people". she was pissed and flabbergasted. it was then i had my first education that being an zealot and idiot was an equal opportunity affliction. nuclear has no emissions. yes there are leaks, there is waste disposal BUT its not widespread and polluting everyone like fossil fuels and nukes are currently in use! none of these damn things is perfect but its all THEYVE given us.