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Americans are divided over whether to increase offshore oil drilling, and a majority believes the risks outweigh the benefits, according to a new nationwide survey released today by Virginia Commonwealth University.

A 51 percent majority says the environmental risks outweigh the benefits of offshore drilling; 35 percent think the benefits outweigh the environmental risks. However, opinion among the general population about increasing offshore oil drilling is currently divided with 45 percent in support of increasing offshore drilling and 44 percent opposed.

Views about offshore drilling are likely influenced by the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that began with the April 20 explosion of a drilling rig, according to the survey.

The VCU Life Sciences Survey was conducted by landline and cell telephone with 1,001 adults nationwide from May 12-18, 2010. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. This is the ninth VCU Life Sciences Survey, conducted for VCU Life Sciences by the VCU Center for Public Policy.

When asked to evaluate environmental and energy issues as potential problems, the most widespread concern is pollution. Eight in 10 adults say pollution of rivers, lakes and reservoirs is a major problem, 16 percent say it is a minor problem and just 3 percent say this is not a problem. Air pollution is seen as a major problem by 74 percent of adults; 73 percent says the same about overreliance on energy from oil and gas.

Global warming, by comparison, is one of the least likely issues to be seen as a major problem; 54 percent say it is a major problem, 23 percent consider it a minor problem and 19 percent say it is not a problem. Views about global warming are divided along partisan lines. Seventy percent of Democrats and 27 percent of Republicans say global warming is a major problem. A majority (53 percent) of independents think global warming is a major problem.

Perceptions of scientific consensus about global warming lean to the view that scientists are divided over global warming. A plurality (49 percent) believes that many scientists have serious doubts about the evidence on global warming; 37 percent believe the evidence is widely accepted in the scientific community. Views about global warming and the need for government action to reduce global warming are split along partisan lines.

The entire report is available online.