Support for alternative energy as a priority drops as support for increased fossil production goes up

Over the past year, fewer people think alternative energy sources should be developed, while support for oil and gas exploration has increased, a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll has found. In March 2011, 63 percent of U.S adults polled said the more important energy priority was developing alternatives, including wind, solar and hydrogen. This March, only 52 percent held that belief. Now, 39 percent of people polled said the more important priority is increased oil, coal and gas production. The Pew Center says the public's priorities have changed because of rising gas prices.

Even though more people think alternatives are still the higher priority, the gap between the two has decreased "considerably," the report states. Diane Cardwell of The New York Times notes that the partisan divide in the survey was "starker" than the divide over energy sources: 89 percent of Republicans favored more offshore drilling, but only 50 percent of Democrats support it. She writes the survey also found that people polled have a limited understanding of hydraulic fracturing, which has led to a boom in natural-gas production and environmental concerns. (Read more)