The Republican base would welcome the right messages on energy policy
Even as Democratic candidates for president prattle endlessly about energy issues – Hilary Clinton couldn’t resist a dig at the Keystone XL pipeline during her Saturday Night Live appearance — most Republicans have had little to say about them. This probably won’t change any time soon, since very few voters, almost all of them Democrats, really care that much about energy or the environment.
That said, some new polling reveals some important messaging opportunities for Republicans, who ought to seize them in the general election. The polls, commissioned by the ClearPath Foundation and conducted by an all-star team of Republican pollsters, make clear that there’s room for a broad, positive Republican Party message on energy policy.
The message that works best, the pollsters found, sets aside Democratic-party climate-change alarmism in favor of efforts to use clean energy to “reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce air pollution and improve public health.” Parts of this message could be questioned factually, since the largest share of foreign oil comes from Canada, and unsavory regimes in the Middle East will remain wealthy so long as oil remains in demand anywhere. But it does point toward the need for a positive set of solutions for dealing with energy policy rather than waging, like the Democratic Party, a frontal assault on energy freedom.
Most of the energy policies Republicans already favor will continue to make sense and resonate. Approving pipeline projects, particularly the Keystone XL, which the Obama administration has dragged its feet on, makes sense. So does freer export of oil and natural gas combined with an end to restrictions on energy imports.
Sometimes, however, the right conservative message won’t resonate that well with voters. When applied to monopoly utilities, renewable portfolio standards (which require utilities to generate a certain percentage of energy from solar, wind or other trendy sources) have surprising majority support from Republicans, the polls found. Indeed, even direct energy-production subsidies get more support than one would expect from self-identified conservatives. This doesn’t make either policy a good idea, but it does suggest that attacking them won’t win votes. Moreover, the message on climate change and energy that Mitt Romney used most prominently in his 2012 campaign — that the U.S. action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions didn’t matter because China and other countries weren’t going to act — seems to be a real loser and ranks near the bottom with all groups polled, including self-described conservative Republicans.
But there are plenty of solutions that will appeal to conservatives and make good sense. A deregulated electricity sector that allowed consumers everywhere to pick their own power companies and generate their own power seems like a winning issue. So does a redirection of corporate-welfare subsidies into true basic energy research on potential breakthroughs. (Since so much gets wasted on Solyndra boondoggles right now, this still could involve a net cut in total energy spending.)
Since, as the polling found, even carbon taxes have majority support among Republicans, there is likely a political advantage for a Republican to propose eliminating the Obama administration’s big-government Clean Power Plan and replacing the federal government’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions with a carbon tax that redirects all revenues toward cuts in other taxes. Energy messages aren’t going to dominate for Republicans. But a positive message on energy policy has a real chance of making a difference with the Republican Party base.
