BlinkSync

In the wake of the massive oil spill off the coast of Huntington Beach, Calif., the question of whether or not to ban new offshore drilling nationwide has split voters, according to a new Morning Consult/Politico poll, while walking back existing offshore drilling elicits more decisive opposition. 

Meanwhile, when asked about new drilling off the coast of California specifically, the balance tips in favor of a ban.

• In the case of California, which has seen numerous spills over the years and where the cleanup of the most recent spill is ongoing, voters are slightly less attached to offshore extraction: 44 percent say they would oppose a ban on existing drilling in the state, and 36 percent would support it. 
• Voters in the West are more likely than the electorate as a whole to support bans on both existing (43 percent) and new drilling (52 percent) off the California coast.  
• Asked how much they had seen, read or heard about the spill, which was first reported Oct. 2, 30 percent of voters said they heard “a lot” and 38 percent heard “some.” Smaller shares said they heard “not much” (16 percent) and “nothing at all” (17 percent). 

The Oct. 8-11 poll surveyed 1,999 registered voters and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

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