Sixty percent (60%) of U.S. voters say finding new sources of energy is more important than reducing the amount of energy Americans now consume.

Thirty-two percent (32%) say reducing U.S. energy consumption is more important, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Eight percent (8%) are not sure which is more important.

Generic support for developing new energy sources is up four points from a month ago.

Republicans (71%) and unaffiliated voters (63%) more strongly support placing the priority on finding new energy sources than Democrats (50%).

On a related topic, 51% say more nuclear power plants should be built in the United States, while 31% disagree.

President Barack Obama earns good or excellent ratings on energy issues from 48% of voters nationwide. Twenty-five percent (25%) say his performance in this area is poor. Obama continues to pull strong approval ratings in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index.

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However, voters continue to disagree with what they view as Obama’s position on global warming. Forty-five percent (45%) of voters believe global warming is caused primarily by long-term planetary trends rather than human activity. Thirty-eight percent (38%) believe human activity is to blame, as Vice President Al Gore and other anti-global warming activists charge.

Most voters (51%) think Obama shares Gore’s views about human activity as the culprit. Just 20% think Obama believes long-term planetary trends are most to blame for global warming.

Sixty-one percent (61%) say global warming is at least a somewhat serious problem, with 37% who say it is Very Serious. Thirty-six percent (36%) don’t view global warming with alarm, including 13% who say it is not at all a serious problem.

These numbers mark a continuing voter trend away from alarm over global warming and increasing support for the idea that it is the result of long-term natural activity. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democrats blame global warming on human activity, while 68% of Republicans and 50% of unaffiliated voters say it’s caused by long-term planetary trends.

Most voters think the news media portrays global warming as worse than it really is, perhaps helps to explain why 23% say global warming is likely to destroy human civilization in the next 100 years.
At a time when consumer confidence is near record lows, 42% say there is a conflict between growing the economy and environmental protection, but 31% disagree.

In a survey right after Obama’s election, 68% of voters said they supported offshore oil drilling as a way to keep gas prices down, but only 44% were confident that the new president agreed with them.

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