Poll: Voters Want Candidate with Energy Answers

Americans want their next president to invest in new energy sources and won't penalize a candidate who says they need to change their habits to conserve, according to the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll.

The poll, taken last Friday through Sunday, found wide support for many proposals advanced by Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, their parties' presumptive nominees. Obama's ideas had broader support, and he was viewed as better able to handle energy issues. But 21% said neither candidate would do a good job.

Energy and gas prices top the list this year when voters are asked what's extremely important to them in choosing a candidate.

The most popular idea in the poll was tax incentives for conservation. Nearly seven in 10 people said they'd be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported that. Both McCain and Obama would offer incentives.

Two Obama ideas showed nearly the same level of appeal: raising fuel-mileage standards on cars and investing $150 billion in clean energy and biofuels.

McCain has a potential winner in his plan to lift restrictions on offshore drilling: 57% in the poll said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate with that position. Also popular: a windfall profits tax to reduce oil companies' profits from soaring oil prices, backed by Obama. The issue got even more visibility Thursday when ExxonMobil announced the highest-ever quarterly profits for a U.S. corporation.

Less than half in the poll said they'd be more likely to back a candidate who wants to build more nuclear plants (47%) or temporarily suspend the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax (46%). Both are McCain ideas.

The poll suggests Americans may be receptive to being told they need to conserve energy. About three in 10 said they'd be more likely to vote for a candidate who said they'd have to change their habits, 17% said less likely and 54% said no difference.

Mark Bernstein, a political scientist and director of the Energy Institute at the University of Southern California, says the responses suggest the next president will have an opening to call for a bit of sacrifice. "No president's really asked the public to spend more or give up something" since Jimmy Carter's failed effort in the 1970s, he says.

Energy has dominated the political agenda for weeks.