A CNN poll shows 60 percent of Americans support a plan that restricts carbon pollution and institutes a system for trading emission allowances.

 

The survey comes as deliberations begin in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill introduced earlier this month by committee chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry (D-MA).

 

Perhaps most crucial: energy legislation enjoys significant support among those identifying as independent, with nearly 6 in 10 supporting the plan.

 

"Independents may not be red or blue, but they appear to be green," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Earlier polls indicate that Independents believe in global warming and believe that the government can take steps to curtail the problem."