The vast majority of African-American and Hispanic voters want President Obama's priority to be job growth over climate change, and large percentages of minority voters fear new environmental rules will raise electricity rates, according to new polling data.

The Thursday poll results show that 66 percent of African-American voters and 61 percent of Hispanics think the president's priority should be job creation. "Only 3 percent of African American voters and 4 percent of Hispanic voters said improving air quality should be a top priority," according to the poll from American Association of Blacks in Energy, a group representing black professionals in the energy industry.

When told that a range of climate regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, including ozone rules that are expected to be the costliest in history, would raise electricity rates, 54 percent of Hispanic voters said they were "less likely to support" the measures. African-Americans polled lower in their responses to the same statement, with 46 percent being less likely to support EPA's rules.

"The message to the president was clear: Job creation and economic growth in the African American and Hispanic communities should be priorities," said Paula Jackson, the group's CEO.

Jackson cautioned the president that as EPA moves ahead with the regulations in the coming weeks, it should not ignore the impacts of the rules on minority communities.

"As the Obama administration moves forward with considering new environmental regulations, such as the proposed ozone rule, I would urge them to take into consideration the disproportionate economic impact these regulations would have on minority communities," she said. She noted that "urban areas" across the U.S. would be especially impacted by the regulations.

The polling results come a day after nearly 300 groups urged the president in a letter to scrap the ozone regulations because of the impact the strict emission measures would have on manufacturing and industry, and the job losses it would cause.

The National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are leading an eleventh-hour campaign to reverse EPA's ozone proposal before the Oct. 1 deadline for implementation. The manufacturers say the rule would bleed $140 billion from the U.S. economy each year after it takes effect.

Other rules on power plant emissions, called the Clean Power Plan, could raise electricity rates several fold, according to a study the industry had done when the rules were first proposed last year. The Clean Power Plan is expected to be made final early next week.

Despite the polls results, Jackson said she applauds "the president's commitment to bringing hope and opportunity to traditionally alienated populations," and said she wants to work with the administration to ensure "government regulations don't needlessly harm the pathways to success for urban communities."

The poll was conducted for the group by Morning Consult. It surveyed 1,157 African-American registered voters and 1,094 Hispanic registered voters. The results of the survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.