http://www.lcv.org/newsroom/press-releases...itemID=30879452

Post-Election Survey Shows Energy Played Key Role Among Swing Voters in 2006 Midterms

Positive, Future-Oriented Alternative Energy Message Transcended Political Polarization

Washington, D.C. – A national post-election survey conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for Democracy Corps and the Campaign for America’s Future and analyzed for the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) reveals the integral role of positive, energy-oriented messages in convincing swing voters to vote for sweeping change at the Congressional level.

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner’s analysis found that key voter groups took issue with the Republican leadership’s failure to address America’s energy problems and took those concerns with them into the voting booth on election day:

* 48 percent of swing voters who voted Democratic cited the failure of the Republican leadership to do anything about oil companies and gas prices as their top concern about Republicans – 20 points higher than any other issue.

* 34 percent of Independents cited Republicans’ failure on oil companies and gas prices as their top concern about Republicans, exceeding any other issue.

* 48 percent of Hispanics cited oil companies and gas prices as their biggest doubts about Republicans this year. Hispanics favored Democrats by 40 points this year.

* 47 percent of voters under thirty cited Republicans’ failure on energy and gas prices as their top worry about Republicans, 10 points higher than any other issue.

* Voters favored Democrats over Republicans by 23 points on which party has new ideas for addressing the country’s problems, a 20-point shift towards Democrats from January 2005.

“This survey confirms factually what our people in the field felt viscerally on Election Day,” LCV President Gene Karpinski said. “A positive, forward-looking message on energy played a critical role in helping Democrats convince voters that they offered new ideas. Lawmakers across America should heed this lesson and work to create a new energy economy with secure, good jobs.”

The survey included a sample of 2,020 voters nationwide, 1,170 of them from the 50 most competitive swing districts held by Republicans before the election.

“Perhaps the most significant finding was the fact that voters who ended up pulling the lever for Democrats cited the failure of the Republican leadership to deal with energy problems as their top concern about that party,” LCV Senior Vice President for Political Affairs Tony Massaro said. “This clearly shows that federal action towards a new energy future has massive bi-partisan support.”

Analysts also report that the 2006 elections saw an unprecedented number of ads highlighting energy issues, impacting races across party, ideological and geographic lines.

Campaign ads also highlighted energy issues in an unprecedented way in 2006. To watch LCV’s collection of over 135 ads on energy and the environment, visit: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=291AAE75DF635B05


Click here to view the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner polling memo; click here to see the relevant charts.

Thanks to Al Gore and his movie "An Inconvienient Truth" soon to be nominated hopefully for an Academy award

And for once, most people saw through the downward pricing the month before the auction (and its up 7 cents since then, at least in NY and NJ)

I hope it wins!