Most voters don’t like that a group of Democratic attorneys general are investigating oil companies and groups that doubt climate change, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
Rasmussen Reports released a poll of 1,000 likely voters showing that 69 percent are against the investigations by state attorneys general into Exxon Mobil and related groups. Only 15 percent of those polled were in favor of the investigations and 16 percent were undecided.
Even many of the Democrats polled by Rasmussen disagreed with the investigation. Twenty-one percent of Democrats agreed that the government should investigate and prosecute global warming doubters.
The attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and Vermont as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, all agreed to work together on using the powers of their office to investigate oil companies and related groups.
The attorneys general argue they are investigating to see if Exxon Mobil or other oil companies defrauded their investors by lying about the effects burning fossil fuels has on climate change.
However, many critics say the attorneys general are using the powers of their office to attack the right to free speech of climate deniers.
The coalition has come under intense scrutiny following investigations started by Schneiderman, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker.
Walker subpoenaed Exxon Mobil and the Competitive Enterprise Institute to find out what the company and the group knew about the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change. Following intense blowback amid accusations of trying to criminalize free speech, Walker withdrew the subpoenas.
Healey and Schneiderman were subpoenaed by House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith for documents related to their subpoenas served to Exxon Mobil. Smith made similar accusations against them as were made against Walker, that they were criminalizing free speech and science that could have shown climate change isn’t real.
