With the distress of Americans growing as gasoline prices passed the $4-a-gallon mark, John McCain put the issue of offshore oil drilling back at political center stage in mid-June by proposing an end to the federal moratorium on drilling for states that wanted to allow it. Barack Obama lost little time pushing back against the idea.

Two recent national polls have pegged the number of Americans who favor measures to increase energy production through offshore drilling and other more aggressive exploration and production measures, although they have analyzed the results in somewhat different ways.