Voters are nearly evenly divided on which is more important– cracking down on speculators or lifting the ban on offshore drilling -- as the debate comes to a head in Congress this week over how to fight rising gas and oil prices. As far as public opinion is concerned, the best answer would be to do both.

A new Rasmussen Reports national survey, taken last night (Monday), finds that 45% think placing more restrictions on energy speculators is more important , while 42% take the opposite view that allowing offshore oil drilling is more important.

A major partisan divide on the issue, like the split in Congress, is evident, however. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Republicans say lifting the ban is the highest priority, while 59% of Democrats – and 48% of unaffiliated voters -- say controlling speculators is more important. Only 29% of unaffiliateds say lift the ban first.

A separate survey finds that most Americans still favor drilling for oil off the shore of the continental United States and believe that it will help reduce gas and oil prices. Fifty-seven percent (57%) favor offshore drilling versus 29% who are opposed. Nearly the same number (56%) believe that gas prices would be at least somewhat likely to fall if the ban is lifted.

Support for lifting the drilling ban has dropped slightly from 62% since Republican presidential candidate John McCain first proposed it as part of an overall energy strategy in mid-June. His Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, supports the ban, a position national Democrats and major environmental groups have championed for years.

With both parties under growing voter pressure to lower prices at the pump, Republicans in Congress have been blocking the effort by Democratic congressional leaders to focus energy legislation primarily on speculators. Republicans and some conservative Democrats want to lift the ban as part of a national energy plan, which also includes the go-ahead to build more nuclear plants. A review of all polling data on the subject indicates that voters want to try whatever is necessary to bring down the price of gas and oil. At this moment in time, there is support for offshore drilling, regulating speculators, more nuclear power, research for alternative energy sources, and drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Conservation measures, such as reducing the speed limit nationwide to 55 miles-per-hour are not supported by most Americans.

The importance of the debate over offshore drilling to voters is clear, with 76% saying they are following news about it at least somewhat closely. Nearly four out of 10 (39%) say they are following new stories about the congressional debate Very Closely. Only 4% say they are not following it at all.

A survey earlier this month found that Americans overwhelmingly see the rise in gas and oil prices as the most serious problem facing the economy and do not think those prices will be brought under control even in the next few years.

In the latest survey, 46% oppose the present GOP congressional strategy of blocking other energy legislation until a vote on the offshore ban is allowed, but 28% support it. Even more Republicans (44%) are against their congressional leaders’ strategy than for it (38%).

If the Republicans force a vote, however, it is not clear that they can peel off enough Democratic votes in the Senate to lift the ban. Voters again are fairly evenly divided on the prospects for such a vote, with 43% saying it is at least somewhat likely that the ban will be lifted while 46% say it is not likely to happen.

Democrats say speculation in crude oil futures has nearly doubled since 2000, with large investors, Wall Street banks and pension funds buying up oil contracts as protection against future economic instability. This drives up oil prices more than traditional market pressures, they say. But Republicans view rising oil prices more as a product of increased demand from other countries like China, the diminishing value of the dollar and political instability in the Middle East.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters are aware that McCain is the Presidential candidate who first proposed lifting the offshore drilling moratorium which has been in place since 1981, but 13% think Obama is pushing it. The two men are locked in a very competitive race for the White House as measured by the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

In last week’s survey, 52% support building new nuclear plants, but 31% are opposed. This is a slight increase in support. Backing for Obama’s proposal to spend $150 billion on green energy resources dropped slightly to 54%.

Forty-four percent (44%) say reducing the price of gas and oil is more important than protecting the environment, but 41% disagree. These numbers track closely with previous findings on this question.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free)… let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

See survey questions and set I toplines and set II toplines.. Crosstabs available for Premium Members only.