Poll: 46% of Minnesota GOP, 56% independents support Obama EPA plan

WASHINGTON -- Just more than half of self-identified Republicans and independents in Minnesota say they agree with President Obama's plan to cut carbon emissions, and they call climate change a "serious problem," according to a poll of voters in eight swing states.

Among the 564 Minnesotans polled between July 31 and Aug. 3, 38 percent of Republican voters say Minnesota should develop its own carbon reduction plan and 54 percent of independent voters agreed.

(Among Democrats, that number was 84 percent.)

The poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling for a batch of liberal groups, including Americans United for Change. All told, 4,517 registered voters were polled in Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Minnesota. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.5 percent.

The Obama administration released details of its carbon reduction plan earlier this week, which requires coal plants to cut admissions by 2030.

Among Minnesota Republicans, 46 percent either "strongly favor" or "somewhat favor" the EPA plan. Among independent voters, that number is 56 percent.

Many of the more than one dozen GOP presidential candidates condemned the plan.

PPP lead pollster Tom Jensen said based on his poll results in the swing states, particularly, that may not be good politics.

"The plan is very popular and has very unusual support along party lines," he said. "Politicians working to try to block this do it at their own peril."