Poll results: Majority of Offshore readers oppose ‘Gulf of America’
By Bruce Beaubouef, Managing Editor
Well, the results are in. As it turns out, most Offshore readers oppose the newly renamed “Gulf of America.”
To be precise, 45% of respondents “strongly oppose” the new name, while 11% merely “oppose.” But together, that’s 56% of respondents opposing the new name.
Offshore’s poll asked readers what they thought about the “Gulf of America” name change, and the poll ran from Feb. 12 to March 2. There were 3,092 poll respondents.
As for those who prefer the “Gulf of America,” 22% “strongly support” the new name, while 7% said they “support” it. Taken together, that’s 29% of respondents who support the new name.
Interestingly, 16% of respondents indicated that they were “neutral” on the topic.
Some other perspectives: as might be expected, this topic generated intense sentiment. If one takes the 45% that “strongly oppose” the new name and the 22% that “strongly support,” then one could see that 67% of readers—two thirds—felt strongly about the name change, one way or another.
A few more notes on the poll: The poll was included in every Offshore Daily e-newsletter for two weeks, and it was also shared on Offshore’s social media channels. In addition, it was included in our coverage of President Trump’s announcement of the Gulf of America name change, and a pop-up poll was created for the Offshore website. There were mechanisms in place that only allowed users to take the poll once.
The poll was open to all Offshore readers throughout the world. While the majority of respondents (57%, or 1,765 respondents) came from the US, we also received responses from the UK, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Norway, among others.
While a majority of Offshore readers opposed the name change, a growing number of operating companies have embraced the “Gulf of America.” These include the three major operating companies in the Gulf: bp, Shell and Chevron. Joining them are Murphy Oil, Kosmos Energy and Occidental Petroleum, which have also begun using the new name.
Our policy going forward
It seems obvious to state that the “Gulf of America” is the new legal name for the US portion of the Gulf, for at least the next four years. We recognize that the majority of Gulf operators have embraced the name change. Going forward, if editorial contributors to Offshore wish to use “Gulf of America,” we will respect that.
But in our writings and coverage, we will continue to use the historically accepted name of the Gulf of Mexico. If the new name is enacted into law with new federal legislation, we will reconsider our stance. To our way of thinking, that would show that the “Gulf of America” has not only popular support but also permanence beyond an executive order, which a succeeding president can easily reverse.
