In September, the Obama administration will make a fateful decision fraught with implications for our economy and for our nation’s dependence on Middle East oil: The president will decide just how many miles per gallon auto company fleets must achieve by 2025.

In surveys we conducted over the last year, Americans express a clear preference for much higher fuel economy standards. Just last month, for Ceres, we explored attitudes in the heart of the industrial Midwest and the headquarters of America’s auto industry – Ohio and Michigan – where we found overwhelming support for at least a 60 miles per gallon standard.

Support for increased fuel efficiency is strong and robust because voters believe it will deliver a variety of valued benefits, including more jobs, less pollution, lower fuel expenditures and reduced dependence on Middle East oil. At the same time, voters reject the view that higher fuel efficiency standards will cost too much or hurt auto companies and cost jobs, believing just the opposite – that stricter fuel efficiency standards will save them money in the long run while spurring innovation by American automakers and creating jobs here.

Voters in the Ceres polls express 4-to-1 support for a specific proposal with two elements: stronger pollution controls on automobiles and a 60 mpg fuel economy standard by 2025 for new cars, pickup trucks, minivans and SUVs. Over three-quarters in both states favor this proposal, while less than 1 in 5 oppose it.

Support is broad, deep and bipartisan, extending to those in affected industries. Some 9 in 10 Democrats join three-quarters of independents and two-thirds of Republicans in supporting this proposal.

Many assume that those who derive their living from the auto industry are as skittish about these standards as those who run car companies. Wrong. Those who live in households dependent on the automobile industry respond much like everyone else, with over two-thirds favoring the 60 mpg standard. In Michigan, 74 percent of voters in UAW households favor the strict standards, while just 26 percent oppose them.

Voters believe tougher fuel efficiency standards will be good for their pocketbooks, their country, the environment and the economy as a whole. In the public view, the most likely outcomes of increased fuel efficiency standards include “American car companies will be encouraged to innovate, increasing