Poll: Majority Favors Carbon Tax Over Cap & Trade

By: Clean Skies News, Published: 12/02/09 1:54pm

Cap and Trade is the focus of the Obama administration and most lawmakers who favor climate legislation, but supporters of a carbon tax aren't giving up.

Two groups who favor that approach to cutting emissions have released a poll showing that while most voters don't know much about either system, the majority favors a carbon tax.

The poll of more than a thousand registered voters was commissioned by the the U.S. Climate Task Force and Future 500 and conducted in late August by Hart Research Associates.

Overall, more than half of those surveyed said they know "very little" or had never heard of either proposal.

But after hearing an explanation of cap and trade, those who responded were about evenly split, with 46 percent favoring it and 46 percent opposing it. After hearing the pollster's explanation of a carbon tax, 57 percent were in favor while 37 percent were opposed.

Respondents were than asked which option they preferred for reducing emissions, and 58 percent picked the carbon tax, while 27 percent favored cap and trade.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percent.

Elaine Kamarck, the co-chair of the U.S. Climate Task Force, says the numbers show it's it's politically feasible for Congress to pass a carbon tax.