FDU PublicMind - July 19, 2001 Release

Energy in the United States:
Views from New Jersey and Across the Nation

A recent PublicMind survey found that a significant segment of New Jerseyans and their fellow citizens across the nation view the price and availability of energy as a significant problem - but not necessarily as a crisis for either the country as a whole or their own states.

The survey data show that New Jerseyans and their fellow Americans share similar perceptions about energy prices and availability in the United States. Nearly equal percentages (roughly 70 percent) of New Jerseyans and individuals across the nation believe that price and availability of energy pose a "crisis" or "major problem" for the country. At the same time, fewer people see energy as a problem that hits close to home. Although nearly 70 percent of New Jerseyans view the energy situation as a crisis or major problem for the country, relatively fewer (49 percent) consider energy prices and availability as a crisis or major problem for New Jersey. Similarly, a considerably smaller percentage of our national survey respondents see energy prices and availability as a crisis or major problem for their own states as for the nation. Individuals in both the New Jersey and national samples tended to be more concerned about the price of gasoline than about electricity shortages or natural gas and home heating oil prices.

Our survey respondents distributed blame widely for the nation's perceived energy problems, but they assigned the highest levels of culpability to U.S. oil companies and American consumers. U.S. oil companies topped individuals' lists of scapegoats: 46 percent of our national respondents and 44 percent of our New Jersey respondents believed that U.S. oil companies deserve a "great deal" of blame for the nation's energy problems. But individuals also assigned considerable blame for the United States' energy woes to American consumers. Among New Jerseyans, 40 percent said that "American consumers who don't try to conserve energy" deserve a great deal of blame for the United States' energy problems; similarly, 38 percent of our national survey respondents assigned a great deal of blame to American consumers. In contrast, the Bush administration received relatively little blame for the nation's energy problems: only 23 percent of our national respondents and 25 percent of our New Jersey sample think that Bush deserves a great deal of blame for the nation's energy problems. Naturally, Democrats in both the New Jersey and national samples were more likely to assign a great deal of blame to the Bush administration, while Republicans were less likely to do so. Among both our national and New Jersey samples, Congress, environmental regulations, the Clinton administration, and foreign nations that export oil received more blame for the nation's energy problems than did President Bush but less blame than U.S. oil companies and American consumers.

Although Americans are concerned about energy issues, our survey shows that many Americans believe other issues pose more serious problems for the nation and their states. In open-ended questions asked prior to the questions about energy, we asked respondents to identify what they saw as the most important problems facing the nation and their states. In our New Jersey sample, a greater percentage of respondents mentioned education, crime, and social issues than mentioned energy as the most pressing problem confronting the nation. Among our national survey respondents, energy was mentioned by a greater percentage of individuals than in our New Jersey sample but still came in second behind the top-ranked issue of education.

Energy was even less likely to be mentioned by respondents as one of the most important issues facing their states. This was especially true among New Jerseyans, only 7 percent of whom mentioned energy as one of the most important problems facing New Jersey. By contrast, twice as many New Jersey residents named education, the environment, and the high cost of auto insurance as the most important problems facing the Garden State - and three times as many respondents mentioned high taxes as one of the most important state issues. A somewhat larger percentage of individuals (14 percent) in our national sample viewed energy as one of the most important problems facing their state; still, nearly twice as many respondents in our national sample mentioned education as the most important issue facing their state.

The national sample also illuminates some significant regional differences on the energy issue. Perhaps most importantly, 55 percent of our respondents from west coast states mentioned energy as one of the most important problems facing their state. (Rare is the open-ended survey question that elicits such unified public opinion responses.) Not surprisingly, west coast residents were also significantly more likely than residents of other regions to consider energy a "crisis" for their states. At the same time, west coast respondents were only marginally more likely than respondents from most other regions to see energy as a crisis for the nation or to mention energy as the most important problem facing the nation. In contrast to Americans from other regions, then, Pacific coasters tend to see the energy problem as hitting closer to home.

Poll Analysis by Fairleigh Dickinson Professor, Dr. Bruce Larson

Dr. Bruce Larson can be reached at (973) 443-8727