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By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com
July 24, 2007
More than 90 percent of likely voters responding to a Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency Poll support tough new fuel mileage standards. They also think that higher fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks will lower gasoline prices and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
The people surveyed favored a 35 mpg standard over 32 mpg and said the changes should take effect by 2018. The Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency is a Washington-based interest group that supports higher fuel-efficiency standards.
A poll released last month by the Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) found that more than three out of four Americans -- including 78 percent of likely 2008 voters -- want Congress to raise the mile-per-gallon (MPG) requirement sharply now to 40 MPG by 2010 rather than waiting to reach a more modest MPG goal by 2018.
Last month, the Senate approved a bill that would raise mileage standards to 35 mpg by 2020. Almost 90 percent of those polled said the House of Representative should approve mileage standards that are as strong or stronger than the Senate legislation.
The current corporate average fuel-economy standard is 27.5 mpg for cars and 21.6 mpg for light trucks.
The poll was conducted in 34 Congressional districts in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, Tennessee and Ohio between July 13 and July 20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.
Those polled rejected auto industry argument that raising fuel-economy standards could result in job cuts and harm U.S. economic growth.
An analysis released by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) in June found that a ten mile-per-gallon improvement in the fuel economy of new vehicles achieved over ten years would pay for itself -- not just over the vehicle lifetime but on a monthly basis for the majority of consumers who borrow to buy their cars and trucks.
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