Celinda Lake

President To: Vote Vets

Alysia Snell From: Lake Research Partners

Partner

Michael Perry Re: Survey Findings1

Partner

David Mermin
Date: April 6, 2010
Partner

Robert G. Meadow,
Ph.D. Key Findings:
Partner
• Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan believe that ending our
Daniel R. Gotoff
Partner
dependence on foreign oil is an important step for our national
security.
Joshua E. Ulibarri
Partner • Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan support a comprehensive clean
Rick A. Johnson energy and climate bill that invests in clean, renewable energy
Managing Director sources in America and that limits carbon pollution.
Tresa Undem
Vice President • These veterans believe that such a bill would help create jobs that
will help vets’ economic prospects after leaving the service, reduce
Robert X. Hillman the amount of oil purchased from hostile nations, and cut funding for
Chief Financial
Officer
terrorists from oil producing nations.

Summary of Findings:

• Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan strongly agree that an important

step for our national security is to end our dependence on foreign
oil: 79 percent agree, 61 percent strongly, while only 14 percent
disagree.

1 Lake Research Partners designed and administered this survey, which was conducted by
phone using professional interviewers. The survey reached a total of 510 veterans of Operation
Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) and/or Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). The survey was
conducted February 8-23, 2010. Telephone numbers for the sample were generated randomly
from a military sample and a radius sample drawn from military bases in the United States. Data
in the sample was weighted slightly by age, race, branch, party ID, completed service, and
region to reflect the attributes of this universe. The margin of error for the total sample is +/- 4.4
percentage points.

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 o Groups that are particularly likely to hold this view include: Men over 30
(65 percent strongly agree), independents2 (72 percent), college-
educated men (67 percent), non born again veterans (68 percent),
veterans of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars3 (71 percent), veterans in
the West4 (68 percent), and those who have completed their service (67
percent).

• Nearly two-thirds of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan agree that America’s

dependence on foreign oil endangers the lives of our troops (64 percent agree,
42 percent strongly). Roughly three in ten disagree with this statement (31
percent disagree, 19 percent strongly).

• Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan show strong support for a comprehensive

clean energy and climate bill that invests in clean, renewable energy sources in
America and limits carbon pollution in the atmosphere: 73 percent favor this
legislation (48 percent strongly favor), compared to 22 percent who oppose the
legislation (16 percent strongly oppose).

o Among veterans, the bill has majority support across party lines. Majorities
of Democrats,5 independents,6 and Republicans support the clean
energy and climate bill (88 percent, 82 percent and 65 percent
respectively).

• Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan agree that comprehensive clean energy

legislation will help veterans’ economic prospects. Two-thirds (67 percent) agree
that this legislation will result in millions of new American jobs in clean energy
industries which can help veterans find jobs when they leave the service (40
percent agree strongly with this statement).

• Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan also agree that the amount of oil we buy from
hostile nations will be reduced if this legislation passes (62 percent agree, 41
percent strongly).

• The majority also agree that the funding and support that oil producing countries
provide to terrorists will be reduced (56 percent agree, 36 percent strongly
agree).

• A slim plurality of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan say that troop deployment in
unstable, oil producing regions of the world will not be reduced as a result of
energy reform (47 percent disagree, 33 percent strongly to 43 percent agree, 20
percent strongly).

2 Note small sample size

3 Ibid
4 Ibid
5 Ibid
6 Ibid

LAKE RESEARCH PARTNERS 2