Renewable Energy Was Critical In Swing-State Voters' Choice For President, Poll Finds
| in News Departments > Policy Watch |
| New polls released by the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) and the Advanced Energy Economy Ohio Institute show that voters in Colorado, Iowa, Ohio and Virginia - all states that were critical in deciding the outcome of the presidential election - support renewable energy. Notably, these states - especially Colorado and Iowa - are home to an established wind energy supply chain. The poll was conducted the day after the election, following months of anti-renewables campaign rhetoric, ACORE notes. The polls confirm that energy was an important factor in many voters' decision for president - on par with foreign policy and more so than abortion. A majority of voters in these four swing states indicated that energy impacted their vote: 66% in Colorado, 60% in Virginia, 58% in Iowa and 57% in Ohio. These same voters want to see cleaner energy encouraged in their state: They ranked solar, wind and natural gas higher than all other energy sources. And, going forward, these swing-state voters are significantly more supportive of candidates who advocate shifting to cleaner energy sources (Iowa: 80%, Colorado: 75%, Virginia: 72%, Ohio: 70%). Majorities in all four states support continued government investment in clean energy (Iowa: 77%, Virginia: 76%, Ohio: 75%, Colorado: 72%) and requirements for utilities to increase the use of renewable energy (Iowa: 76%, Colorado: 70%, Virginia: 69%, Ohio: 67%). The bipartisan research team of Public Opinion Strategies and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates conducted 400 interviews on Nov. 7 with voters in Colorado, Iowa, Ohio and Virginia who cast ballots in the Nov. 6 presidential election. Interviews were conducted on landline and wireless phones. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 4.9%; margins of error for subgroups within the sample will be higher. More details on the poll results can be found here. |
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