Sep 23 - PRNewswire-USNewswire

A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll finds the majority of supporters of John McCain and Barack Obama largely agree on how to deal with both the country's energy needs and the problem of climate change.

Asked whether the government should require utilities to use more alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar, even if this increases costs in the short-run, seventy-five percent of Obama voters and sixty percent of McCain voters say that it should.

Presented two competing arguments, both Obama and McCain supporters reject the argument that making a major shift to alternative energy sources "would cost so much money that it would hurt the economy." Very large majorities in both the Obama (83%) and McCain (73%) camps instead support the argument that "with the rising cost of energy, it would save money in the long run."

Supporters in both camps strongly favor a greater emphasis on increasing energy efficiency: 71 percent of Obama and 55 percent of McCain supporters support requiring businesses to use energy more efficiently, even if it might make some products more expensive.

Only small minorities in both camps favor greater emphasis on "building coal or oil-fired power plants," although more McCain supporters favor this approach (34%) than those for Obama (19%).

Both Obama and McCain supporters favor the United States departing from its current position on the Kyoto Treaty. Told that, "the U.S. and other countries from around the world will be meeting next year to develop a new treaty to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions such as those caused by using oil and coal," 94 percent of Obama supporters and 63 percent of McCain supporters said that the United States should "be willing to commit to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as part of such a treaty."

These findings are part of a larger international poll conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, an international research project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. The poll of 1,174 Americans was fielded from August 9 - 20, 2008 by Knowledge Networks. The margin of error ranges from +/2.9 to 3.4 percent, depending on the sample size. Because this was an international poll questions about offshore drilling were not included.

For more information, visit: http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/

Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of

CONTACT: Steven Kull of the Program on International Policy Attitudes atthe University of Maryland, +1-202-232-7500

Web Site: http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/