Fox News Poll: 70 percent say build the Keystone XL Pipeline

A Fox News poll finds most American voters support building the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.  In addition, just over half blame the Obama administration for the recent increase in gas prices.

By a wide 70-23 percent margin, voters support building the pipeline that would transport oil from Canada to refineries in the United States.

Support for the pipeline is mostly unchanged from last year, when 67 percent favored building it and 25 percent were opposed (February 2012).

The three percentage-point uptick in support comes from Democrats:  57 percent say build it, up from 50 percent a year ago.  At the same time, support among Republicans holds steady at 87 percent.

Sixty-six percent of independents back the pipeline, down from 69 percent in 2012.

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On Friday, the State Department issued an environmental impact statement for the Keystone pipeline and ultimately concluded there would be “no significant impacts.”   It’s unclear how the Obama administration will rule on the pipeline given the competing constituencies -- environmentalists who oppose the pipeline and unions who want the jobs it would bring.

The poll, released Monday, also finds 51 percent of voters think the Obama administration is at least somewhat responsible for the recent increase in gas prices.  That includes 24 percent who say the White House is “very” responsible.  Some 44 percent don’t think Obama is to blame for their pain at the pump.

Republicans (66 percent) are more likely than independents (44 percent) and Democrats (41 percent) to blame Obama for high prices at the pump.

The national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $3.78 -- the highest February price on record.

No wonder gas prices topped a list of gripes.  The 84 percent of voters who say they are “fed up” with high gas prices, exceeds the number who feel that way about the growing federal budget deficit (81 percent) and gridlock in Washington (78 percent).  And to really put it in perspective, it’s almost twice as many as say they are fed up with people having loud cell phone conversations (43 percent).

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,010 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from February 25 to February 27.  The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.