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 he Sierra Club released a new poll last month that
shows overwhelming support for cleaning up auto pollution that
causes global warming. That poll, and a second poll conducted
on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund, show Americans are concerned
about global warming and they support stronger miles-per-gallon
fuel economy standards as an important step toward protecting
our health and environment.
 An August
1999 poll of 405 predominantly Independent and Republican New
Hampshire voters conducted by Zogby International found overwhelming
support for stricter fuel economy standards to reduce global
warming, even among very conservative voters. Overall, 75 percent
of those polled supported "significantly increasing the
fuel economy of new cars, sport utility vehicles and trucks"
as a method of decreasing global warming, even if this increase
would "add an extra $300 to the average price of a car."
"Some
of the most conservative voters in the nation New Hampshire Republicans
and Independents overwhelmingly support cleaning up SUVs and
other light trucks to curb global warming," said Daniel
Becker, Director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy
Program.
Seventy-one
percent of those identifying their ideology as conservative and
81 percent of those considering themselves moderate supported
a corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) increase. Similarly,
70 percent of Republicans polled and 70.9 percent of independents
agreed with a CAFE increase. Support was also strong in union
households, with 75 percent favoring CAFE.
Other polls
conducted this summer also prove that CAFE is important to voters.
In a poll of SUV owners in 31 states conducted by The Mellman
Group for the World Wildlife Fund, 72 percent believed that Sport
Utility Vehicles (SUVs) should be required to meet the same pollution
standards as cars. A National Environmental Trust Poll showed
that 88 percent of likely Republican primary or caucus voters
in California, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York and South Carolina
said requiring auto companies to meet fuel efficiency standards
is important to them as voters.
"The
moral here is that from conservatives in New Hampshire to SUV
owners in California to Republicans in Iowa, the American people
want to raise CAFE miles per gallon standards to cut global warming.
Are our leaders listening? It's time to act," Becker said.
The poll results
come just as the Senate is about to vote on a resolution calling
on Senators to reject a budget rider which prevents the Department
of Transportation from studying a fuel economy increase. Language
has been inserted into the Transportation appropriations bill
since 1994 prohibiting the Administration from spending any money
to study the issue of raising CAFE standards.
"Making
cars and SUVs go further on gallon of gas is the biggest single
step to curbing global warming and saving oil," said Becker.
"We call on Senators to vote with the American people to
cut pollution and reject the auto industry's plea for more guzzling
and more delay."
CAFE standards
were first passed in 1975 and have been a great success cars
today travel twice as far on a gallon of gas as cars did before
1975, and each day CAFE standards save 3 million barrels of oil.
However, since automakers met the standard in the 80s, fuel economy
has stagnated and gone into decline. Today's average fuel economy
is its lowest level since 1980, a fact largely due to the popularity
of gas-guzzling SUVs and light trucks. 
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