{"id":1879,"date":"2010-07-29T15:09:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T15:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/?p=1879"},"modified":"2010-07-29T15:09:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T15:09:00","slug":"monmouth-universitygannett-new-jersey-residents-say-no-to-jersey-shore-drilling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/2010\/07\/29\/monmouth-universitygannett-new-jersey-residents-say-no-to-jersey-shore-drilling\/","title":{"rendered":"Monmouth University\/Gannett New Jersey: Residents say NO to Jersey Shore Drilling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just 31% of Garden State residents are in favor of drilling for oil or gas off the New Jersey coast while 63% are opposed
\nalso:
\n“When asked to choose between two priorities for U.S. energy policy, more New Jerseyans would emphasize protecting the environment (55%) over keeping energy prices low (28%). Democrats (66%)<\/em><\/p>\n

and independents (56%) are more likely than Republicans (37%) to place a higher priority on environmental protection over lower energy prices.”<\/em>
\nRichard Charter<\/p>\n

Opinion marks about-face from two years ago<\/p>\n

Two years ago, most New Jerseyans supported off-shore drilling near the state’s coast. Today, not so much. The latest Monmouth University\/Gannett New Jersey Press Media Poll also finds some concern that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could eventually wash up on Jersey beaches.<\/p>\n

Just 31% of Garden State residents are in favor of drilling for oil or gas off the New Jersey coast, while 63% are opposed. This marks a turnaround from two years ago, when a majority of 56% favored this energy option compared to only 36% who opposed it.<\/p>\n

By comparison, support for both wind and nuclear energy remains basically unchanged. Fully 8-in-10 residents support the placement of energy-generating windmills off the New Jersey coast (80% today, compared to 82% in 2008) and just under 4-in-10 support building another nuclear power plant in the state (37% today, compared to 41% in 2008).<\/p>\n

Interestingly, support levels for any of these energy options – drilling, wind, nuclear – are no different among those living in the state’s six coastal counties (i.e. Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Salem) than they are for those living further inland.<\/p>\n

“New Jersey has historically been concerned with environmental issues and the specter of
\nanything washing up on our beaches may heighten anxiety over off-shore drilling. The fact that concern is the same for coastal and inland residents may speak to how much all New Jerseyans value our shore as a state asset,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.<\/p>\n

The three month old oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has captured the attention of Garden State residents, with 85% saying they have read or heard a lot about this incident. More than half of New Jerseyans think that remnants of the oil spill washing up on our state’s shores is a possibility. This includes 17% who consider it very likely to happen and 36% who say it is somewhat likely. Another 22% say the chances of this happening are not too likely and 20% rule it out entirely. [Note: the poll was conducted just prior to the tentative capping of the well on July 15.]<\/p>\n

Only 25% of New Jerseyans approve of the U.S. government’s handling of the spill. Another 68% disapprove, including 83% of Republicans, 75% of independents, and 55% of Democrats.<\/p>\n

Nearly 6-in-10 residents (59%) believe the accident indicates there are significant safety problems with off-shore drilling. Only 36% view this as an isolated incident that does not suggest there are fundamental problems with such drilling activity. Republicans (53%) are more likely than independents (37%) and Democrats (27%) to believe that the accident was unusual rather than indicative of systematic problems with off-shore drilling.<\/p>\n

When asked to choose between two priorities for U.S. energy policy, more New Jerseyans would emphasize protecting the environment (55%) over keeping energy prices low (28%). Democrats (66%) and independents (56%) are more likely than Republicans (37%) to place a higher priority on environmental protection over lower energy prices.<\/p>\n

The Monmouth University\/Gannett New Jersey Press Media Poll was conducted by telephone with 801 New Jersey adults from July 7 to 11, 2010. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.5 percent.<\/p>\n

The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute and originally published by the New Jersey Press Media newspaper group (Asbury Park Press, Courier-Post, Courier News, Daily Journal, Daily Record, and Home News Tribune).<\/p>\n

Please attribute this information to:<\/p>\n

Monmouth University\/Gannett New Jersey<\/p>\n

Press Media Poll<\/p>\n

For more information:<\/p>\n

Monmouth University Polling Institute<\/p>\n

West Long Branch, NJ 07764<\/p>\n

www.monmouth.edu\/polling<\/p>\n

Monmouth University Polling Institute 7\/21\/10<\/p>\n

Special thanks to Richard Charter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just 31% of Garden State residents are in favor of drilling for oil or gas off the New Jersey coast while 63% are opposed also: “When asked to choose between two priorities for U.S. energy policy, more New Jerseyans would emphasize protecting the environment (55%) over keeping energy prices low (28%). Democrats (66%) and independents … Continue reading Monmouth University\/Gannett New Jersey: Residents say NO to Jersey Shore Drilling<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1880,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions\/1880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}