The majority of Americans want to see the United States lift restrictions on oil exports, according to the results of a new poll.
The Washington Times reports the poll, conducted by FTI Consulting, found that 69 percent of registered voters support exporting U.S. oil to "customers in countries who are trading partners."
Twenty-five percent of those surveyed were opposed to the idea.
When asked whether they supported selling crude oil to trading partners vs. selling it to the U.S. customers, 65 percent were in favor of the former and 31 supported the second option, the Times reports.
The U.S. has banned the sale of oil to trading partners since 1975, when it enacted the policy out of scarcity concerns. But with domestic oil production surging in recent months by millions of barrels a day, there are new calls to revisit this policy.
Seventy-six percent of voters surveyed in the FTI poll said selling American oil overseas would lead to a "positive" impact on the economy, while 74 percent said erasing the ban would lead to more jobs and make the nation more oil independent, the Times reports.
Sixty-three percent of the voters said selling U.S. oil would increase the supply, therefore lowering prices at the pump, the Times reports.
The survey results contradict what the left-leaning Center for American Progress found last month, which concluded that 69 percent of American voters were against selling U.S. oil and gas, according to the Times.
In December, the Obama administration
eased some restrictions on oil exports, announcing a lightly processed form of crude known as condensate can be sold outside the U.S.
The FTI poll was conducted for the Producers of American Crude Oil Exports (PACE).
A recent report said the U.S. will beef up its oil production to 13.64 million barrels a day in 2015.
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