Oppose (32 percent)

Undecided (7 percent)

The poll was conducted June 24 among 685 registered voters, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percent.

The Associated Industries poll survey tells me why John McCain has managed to stay just ahead of Barack Obama in the average of presidential polls taken in that state. Several polls have shown an uptick for McCain there in recent weeks.

Perhaps even more than most states, Florida is feeling the jolt of high gasoline prices. Not only commuters are affected, but so are tourists, which Florida relies on heavily for its tax base. Higher fuel prices mean many of those travelers are staying home this year or vacationing closer to home than faraway Florida.

And Florida is a big, fractured state geographically. If you do business there and have to travel, driving is often the best or only way to get to where you're going. Gasoline at over $4 a gallon starts to wear on the wallets of both everyday Joes and Jills, and on the corporations and businesses they patronize.

Other recent polling we've conducted in Florida tell us that people there are still devoted to the environment, and most prefer that oil exploration be done at least far enough out to sea that the drilling platforms can't be seen from shore. (They'll almost surely get their wish.) But as for resistance to the concept of more potential drilling, it has largely melted in the face of economic worries.

Of course we keep waiting, and the oil crisis isn't getting any better. But whether it's drilling at home or reaping some of the oil benefits from the nation we liberated and continue to defend, one thing is clear -- all Americans want for Independence Day is energy independence.