Policy Update

Monthly Messenger: New Energy and Climate Polling Shows Strong Bipartisan Support for Renewables

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National

NCEL Point of Contact

Ava Gallo
Climate and Energy Program Manager

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Pew Research Center recently released their annual energy and climate national poll focused on environmental protection, energy, and climate change. The report found that a majority of Americans believe the federal government is doing too little to protect the environment including water resources (69%), air quality (64%), and protecting against climate change (67%).

The poll also found strong bipartisan support for renewable energy. Overwhelming majorities of Americans support more solar panel farms (89%) and more wind turbine farms (85%). When broken down by party, both Republicans and Democrats are in favor of expanding solar farms (80% and 96%) and wind farms (71% and 93%).

Despite partisan divides on how to address environmental protection and climate change, the poll found that millennial Republicans are more likely to support environmental positions. About 60% say that climate change is affecting the US and 45% say they see its impacts in their communities.

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The poll’s sample size was 2,541 respondents with a ±2.7% margin of error at a 95% confidence interval.