Memo to President Obama: Majority of Americans Support the Keystone Pipeline Project

Daniel Doherty | March 22, 2012 11:30 AM

A new Gallup poll out today confirms what most people already knew – namely, the vast majority of Americans support building the Keystone XL pipeline:

A majority of Americans, including a plurality of Democrats, think the government should approve the building of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, according to a new national survey.
A Gallup poll released Thursday indicates 57% of the public says the Obama administration should give the go ahead for the pipeline's construction, with 29% disagreeing and 14% unsure.

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The survey's release comes as President Barack Obama brings his energy tour to a pipeline facility in Cushing, Oklahoma Thursday morning to announce he wants to speed up work on the southern end of the Keystone oil pipeline. The president still does not support work on the northern end that enters the U.S. from Canada.

Republicans have persisted in attacking Obama for his administration's January decision to reject an initial proposal for the northern segment of the pipeline that would have transported oil from Canada's oil sands south to the Gulf of Mexico. The decision followed months of protests by environmentalists who object to the considerable carbon emissions released when producing oil from oil sand.

Republicans in the House and Senate have repeatedly and emphatically (with good reason, I might add) denounced President Obama’s decision to block the proposal that would approve the Keystone XL pipeline project and create thousands of jobs. According to the survey, more than 80 percent of Republicans think the pipeline should be built. What’s more, even a plurality of Democrats – as mentioned above – support the initiative by a 44% to 38% margin. Go figure. And so, while hysterical green lobbyists argue that such a proposal would destroy wildlife habitats and harm the environment, in reality the Keystone pipeline is perhaps the safest and most expedient way to grow the American economy.

More important, these recent statistics should give pause to any American who asserts or believes that President Obama is invulnerable in November. On top of his grossly expensive and deeply unpopular health care law, these startling numbers prove – once again – that the President is out-of-touch and playing politics at the expense of the American people.