Green group poll: ‘Overwhelming majority’ backs Obama climate rule

A survey commissioned by an environmental group found that 6 in 10 voters support President Obama’s landmark climate rule for power plants.

The poll, released Thursday by the League of Conservation Voters, also concluded that 70 percent of United States voters want their state governors to comply with the regulation.

{mosads}Only 31 percent disagreed with the rule, and 17 percent said their states’ governors should not comply.

The group characterized the support for the rule as an “overwhelming majority.”

“It is good news that support for the Clean Power Plan remains strong, but it’s especially good news to see that Americans want their governors on board with the plan too,” League President Gene Karpinski said in a statement.

“State leaders who are choosing to fight these carbon pollution safeguards would do well to listen to their constituents instead of the polluters,” he said.

The question about governors’ compliance is targeted directly at state executives who are considering ignoring the mandate to write state implementation plans, a strategy pushed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Only Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) has firmly pledged such a response, which would spur the EPA to write its own plan for the state.

The group commissioned one Democratic and one Republican polling firm to conduct the survey in the days after Obama announced the final version of the rule in early August.

The breakdown between support and opposition of the climate rule was nearly identical when pollsters presented arguments both in favor of the plan and against it, the polling firms said.