Study Shows Strong Support for Renewable Energy Regardless of Political Leanings

Americans across the nation, regardless of their political beliefs, are strongly in favor of adopting renewable energy policies according to a study from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC). The study, Republicans and Democrats differ in why they support renewable energy, highlights that although most Americans strongly support renewable energy, the reasoning behind their support differs.

According to Abel Gustafson, a postdoctoral associate with YPCCC and the paper’s first author, the perception of an energy source’s harmfulness, as well as its cost, influence public opinion of renewable energy.

“People want their energy sources to be clean and cheap,” Gustafson said. “They want to avoid pollution and environmental harms and they want to keep the cost low.”

However, how people prioritize these attributes varies based on their political values. The YPCCC study showed that although Republicans and Democrats are both in favor of fully transitioning to renewable energy, the primary reason for their support differs.

“The main takeaway is that Democrats, more than Republicans, support renewable energy out of the desire to reduce global warming,” Gustafson said. “In contrast, Republicans, more so than Democrats, support renewable energy for economic reasons like cost-saving and economic growth.”

The study reached these conclusions by administering a survey to a nationally representative sample of the U.S. adult population. However, the study did not delve into the values of elected officials, which are often unaligned with their constituents. So, despite the hopeful results of the YPCCC’s study, widespread bipartisan support in Congress for a rapid transition to renewable energy is still far off.

According to a paper published by the American Political Science Review, elected officials often misperceive the values of their constituents and assume they are more conservative than they actually are. The paper states that Republican offices underestimate their constituents' interest in climate issues by 20 percentage points, and Democrats underestimate by as much as 11 percentage points, which makes crafting representative legislation on environmental issues unlikely. But studies like the YPCCC report are one way to minimize the disconnect between public opinion and elected officials.

“If we can make government officials aware of the fact that there is bipartisan support for renewable energy, perhaps they would be more likely to advance more legislation or take more action in that area,” Gustafson said.

According to an International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) study, renewable energy is frequently less expensive than any fossil fuel alternative, employs over 11 million people worldwide, and reduces negative environmental impacts. With the economic and environmental benefits of renewables clear, renewable energy is an excellent way to close the political divide.

“It’s much easier to find common ground and to work together on some of these political issues than it is to persuade someone and change their fundamental belief system and values,” Gustafson said. “It is much more effective to find ways to show people that we are all on the same team and we can all move toward a common goal together. And renewable energy is a great example of an opportunity to do that.”

To learn more about the public perception of environmental issues, please check out our “Climate Change in the American Mind” briefing, which featured the director of the YPCCC, Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz.

Author: Sydney O’Shaughnessy