Energy Policy is prime election for engineers
15 January 2009
Energy policy is the most important consideration for the US's 1.5 million engineers in deciding how to vote for president, according to research by Talascend.
The engineering resourcing specialist surveyed 1,013 US engineers this week on their policy priorities and found that it is 'very' or 'quite' important for 99% of respondents, just in front of economy / jobs.
The principal issue within energy that requires a policy response from the candidates is: 'Meeting our future need for more power' (85% believe this issue of primary importance). 'Opportunities presented by 'green collar job' creation' are least likely to be seen as of primary importance (33%).
45% of all respondents believe John McCain has the most effective suite of policies to address the chief long and short term energy-related priorities for the US, but his support falls to 31% amongst female engineers. 27% of all respondents choose Obama but candidate preference is reversed among engineers under 45 years of age (McCain with 33%, Obama with 37%). Significantly one fifth of engineers think neither candidate has the solution.
Respondents were also questioned about their approval of each of the candidates' key energy policies without being told which policy belonged to which candidate. The average approval rating for Obama's 16 key energy pledges is 49%, almost identical to McCain's 19 key energy pledges, at 51%.
Obama's most approved is 'Promote the Responsible Domestic Production of Oil and Natural Gas (75%). The most disapproved pledge is: 'Swap Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Cut Prices' (47% disapprove).
McCain's most popular policy is 'Promoting And Expanding The Use Of Our Domestic Supplies Of Natural Gas' (75%), his most disapproved is 'A $5,000 tax credit for each and every customer who buys a zero carbon emission car' (25% disapprove).
Richard Spragg, VP at Talascend said: "Engineers have been giving us their opinions about the elections and energy appeared to be a salient issue. We wanted to establish just how important the issue is to this large constituency which is exceptionally well equipped to assess the candidates' polices in this area. Both sets of energy policies are broadly similar and are rated almost equally when considered on their own merits. However, the research suggests McCain's emphasis on issues such as energy supply security gives him a distinct lead with engineers."
