Did you notice this yesterday? It’s a Rasmussen poll about offshore drilling.

One concern we have heard time and time again since this oil spill started about a month ago from folks in the oil business and connected industries is abject terror that The Left will use the Macondo blowout and spill as a lever from which to shut down offshore drilling. The rather classless cackling from many on that side of the aisle about the death of “Drill, Baby, Drill” has put a good number of conservatives, and a host of Louisiana business people terrified for their livelihoods as a result of the policy possibilities arising from the spill, on the defensive of late. And the moves made by the Obama administration to at least partially deny new offshore leases as well as stack the deck at MMS in ways sure to create hardships for new drilling give some heft to those concerns.

Which is why it’s worth mentioning that Rasmussen finds offshore drilling is still wildly popular with the American people.

The poll finds that 64 percent of respondents support offshore drilling. That’s a number which is up six points from 58 percent earlier this month, which might be explained by the fact that very little of the oversold disastrous effects of the spill have actually happened – which we would argue is a reflection on the efforts of BP and its contractors as well as the state and local responders in Louisiana and elsewhere, plus the Coast Guard. But it’s still eight points short of the 72 percent score offshore drilling received at the end of March when Obama gave his (somewhat dishonest) speech in favor of drilling.

The American people are under no delusions about drilling, though. Rasmussen finds that 67 percent recognize there is an environmental consequence to oil drilling. They’re in support anyway.

And the Obama administration doesn’t get good marks for its response to the spill. Just 33 percent say Obama’s performance on the spill has been a good one, while 34 percent give him a poor rating. Naturally, those numbers beat the pants off the corporate performance. Two weeks ago, BP and Transocean were getting relatively good marks – 29 percent said their response was good or excellent, against 28 percent poor. But that has changed, as just 20 percent gave thumbs up compared to 43 percent rating BP and Transocean in the “poor” category. Those Senate hearings took their toll, which was probably by design.

And 91 percent of those polled said they’ve been following news of the spill, which means they’ve been exposed to the worst of the sensationalized narratives the left-wing media has to offer.

In the event the Hard Left as represented by Soros stooges like Edward Markey or Hollywood Luddites like Sam Waterston wish to attempt to capitalize on the spill by advocating a ban on drilling as this fall’s elections draw near, they will face a rather unfriendly electorate which is far less malleable than they might believe. And that’s a relief to those of us who recognize that despite the need for a cleanup in the Gulf and improvements in techniques, equipment and processes in offshore drilling, we need more of it rather than less.

Posted as part of a running update on the Gulf oil spill at TheHayride.com.