Midwestern Voters Willing to Pay More for Clean Energy
The poll, sponsored by the Minnesota Environmental Partnership (MEP), was conducted January 9-15, 2012.
In addition, voters in these four states expressed a strong preference for wind and solar power over natural gas, coal and nuclear power for future energy use.
The majority of voters polled (51%) were willing to pay as much as $6 more on their monthly electric bill in order to promote clean energy and energy efficiency. Another 37% were willing to pay an additional $2 to $4 per month. Only 8 percent of those polled were not willing to pay more on their monthly bills.
In one state – Minnesota – this $6 a month equates to more than doubling the amount of money that utilities spend to help consumers with weatherization and other energy efficiency programs.
Polling was conducted by the national bipartisan polling team of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Metz and Public Opinion Strategies and has a 2.9 percent margin of error.
When asked what energy source they would like to see increased to meet their state’s future energy needs, voters overwhelmingly ranked wind and solar power as their top preferences. Support for increased solar power ranked a high 87 percent with wind power scoring virtually equal at 86 percent support. Lowest on the list for future energy sources was biomass with 49 percent support, followed closely by nuclear that showed only 52 percent support.
“Voters across the region back a wide range of policies that will move their state toward more clean energy use,” said Steve Morse, executive director of MEP. “We see an extremely positive response to energy efficiency in particular. Voters in this region believe it will save them money and create jobs – it’s a real winner.”
Morse added that the Midwest clean energy poll will provide important information to candidates in the 2012 elections about voters’ opinions on the energy futures of their states.
View the poll slides here. More information about MEP can be found at www.MEPartnership.org.