Poll: Public favors Dems on energy, while Obama spill rating rises

(My colleague Jordan Fabian blogged about the poll this morning — he notes that in general the public also favors the Tea Party movement over top Capitol Hill Democrats.)

The poll of 500 or 1,000 adults (depending on the question) conducted earlier this month finds that 36 percent believe Democrats would do a better job on energy policy, compared to 20 percent favoring the GOP. Twenty-two percent found them “about the same.”

But the 16-point spread is smaller than some older polls — the NBC News/WSJ survey shows that Dems held a 28 percentage point edge on energy in a January 2008 poll and a 24-point edge in a July 2007 poll.

The new poll gives Dems a bigger edge on dealing with global warming, with 40 percent of respondents saying the Democrats would do a better job and 13 percent saying the GOP would do a better job. But that’s still smaller than the 45-point edge Dems had in a January 2008 survey.

On the question of which party is better equipped to protect the environment overall, the poll shows that Democrats’ longstanding edge continues: Forty-six percent gave the nod to Dems, compared to 13 for Republicans — the 33 percentage point spread is largely consistent with polls dating to the early 1990s, according to the NBC News/WSJ poll.