“I would agree with that kind of finding, but I’m surprised at that kind of number,” said Jon Salmonson, a Missoula neighborhood leader. “There’s an awful lot of people who don’t seem to be terribly concerned about their use of fossil fuel and gasoline.”
Based in Massachusetts, the UCS commissioned the poll and describes itself online as “the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world.” Pollsters asked questions of more than 2,000 voters in Montana, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
The survey says some 96 percent of voting Montanans are concerned about high gas prices, compared with 94 percent overall.
The poll also shows that 87 percent of Montana voters would like to require automakers to build more efficient vehicles that pollute less and use less gas. Some 10 percent of those voters do not support the action.
In Missoula, car buyers aren’t pushing hard for hybrids on at least one lot. Karl Tyler of Karl Tyler Chevrolet said used Toyota Priuses sell quickly, but the cars also end up disappointing western Montana buyers with their poor performance.
“It’s fashionable, in my opinion, to be buying a hybrid. I don’t know that it’s practical, but it’s certainly fashionable,” Tyler said.
For more information, read Wednesday's Missoulian or go to Missoulian.com.
View a report on results of the Union of Concerned Scientists survey
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