Environmental Polling Roundup – October 3, 2025
Headlines
Embold Research – While voters aren’t sure about the relative advantages of different energy sources, they’re inclined to believe that renewables are faster and more affordable while fossil fuels are more reliable [Energy Bills Release, Permitting Release, Topline, Crosstabs]
Climate Power – The most effective messages in the debate over energy costs educate voters about the cost-effectiveness of clean energy and call out corporate greed [Deck]
Data for Progress – Americans overwhelmingly support government investments in energy efficiency and electrification [Release, Crosstabs]
Key Takeaways
Voters don’t have a clear idea about the relative advantages of different energy sources, but suspect that renewables generate electricity faster and more affordably while fossil fuels are more reliable. Embold Research finds that voters are most likely to identify renewable energy sources including solar and wind when asked to choose the energy source that can “produce new energy for the lowest price,” and are most likely to choose solar farms as the type of energy project that can be “built and start producing energy the fastest.”
Climate Power additionally finds that most voters believe that it’s likely true that new solar and wind farms “can bring electricity online more quickly and at a lower cost than new gas power plants.” However, many voters are still confused or misinformed on these points, leaving plenty of room to educate voters about the speed and cost-effectiveness of clean energy.
And less encouragingly, Embold Research also finds that voters are less likely to rate renewables as highly “reliable” energy sources than fossil fuels–which is particularly important as their poll shows that voters rate reliability as an equal or higher priority for the country’s energy than costs.
These findings illustrate that we are making encouraging progress in convincing the public about the cost-effectiveness of clean energy, but need to keep driving that point home while also shoring up concerns about clean energy’s reliability.
Effective messages in the debate over energy costs educate voters about the cost-effectiveness of clean energy and call out utility companies’ greed. In testing a variety of messages about why energy costs are increasing, Climate Power finds that the following three statements stand out in their persuasiveness to voters:
“Solar and wind farms only take one or two years to build, while gas power plants take six or more years and are far more expensive. And once solar and wind farms are built, they produce a lot of electricity for very little cost. A single acre of solar panels can power 80 homes, and just two turns of a wind turbine can power a home for a day. That’s why clean energy is already 50% cheaper than electricity from gas power plants.”
“Monopoly utility companies are focused on getting rich. They make higher profits from gas power plants, so they have delayed solar and wind projects while increasing rates, making record profits, and giving massive bonuses to their executives. Some of these companies have seen their profits and executive pay more than double over the last three years, while consumers are paying higher and higher rates.”
“Solar and wind farms only take one or two years to build, while gas power plants take six or more years and are far more expensive. And once solar and wind farms are built, they produce a lot of electricity for very little cost. That’s why clean energy is already 50% cheaper than electricity from gas power plants, and it’s why we already get more than 25% of our electricity from wind and solar, even though many Americans don’t realize it.”
Good Data Points to Highlight
- [Clean Energy] 75% of voters support government policies to increase energy production from new technologies like geothermal, hydrogen, and battery storage [Embold Research]
- [Clean Energy] 68% of voters support government policies to increase energy from renewable sources including solar and wind [Embold Research]
- [Energy Efficiency] 72% of Americans support tax incentives that lower the cost of purchasing energy-efficient electric home appliances, including heat pumps, rooftop solar panels, induction stoves, and electric water heaters [Data for Progress]
Full Roundup
Embold Research – While voters aren’t sure about the relative advantages of different energy sources, they’re inclined to believe that renewables are faster and more affordable while fossil fuels are more reliable [Energy Bills Release, Permitting Release, Topline, Crosstabs]
Most voters nationwide report rising energy bills, and they worry about monthly energy costs nearly as much as housing and health care costs. Seven in ten voters (70%) who pay a monthly energy bill say that their household’s energy bills have increased this year, and roughly half of voters (49%) say that they worry either “a great deal” or “quite a bit” about monthly energy expenses like electricity and gas.
This makes energy only slightly less of a cost concern than housing (52% worry “a great deal” or “quite a bit”) or health care (52%).
Food and groceries (58% worry “a great deal” or “quite a bit”), meanwhile, stand out as the monthly expense that voters are most concerned about.
Voters widely agree that reliability, costs, and modernization should be top priorities for energy policy, and Republicans also put a premium on U.S. energy independence. Close to half of voters rate each of the following as “critically important” energy priorities for the United States today:
- Ensuring reliable electricity that doesn’t go out – 53% “critically important”
- Modernizing our energy infrastructure and grid – 51%
- Keeping energy costs as low as possible – 48%
- Achieving energy independence from other countries – 45%
Democrats rate grid/infrastructure modernization (55% “critically important”) and reliability (55%) as relatively higher priorities than keeping energy costs low (45%), and say that achieving U.S. energy independence (31% “critically important”) is less important than any of these other priorities.
For Republicans, by contrast, U.S. energy independence ranks as the most important priority on this list (61% “critically important”). Around half of Republicans also rate reliability (52%), costs (51%), and infrastructure/grid modernization (49%) as “critically important” priorities.
Voters continue to say that the country should prioritize renewables over fossil fuels, despite deep partisan division. In the aggregate, voters are more likely to support government policies to boost renewables, nuclear, and new energy technologies than fossil fuels.
Below are the percentages who support and oppose government policies to increase the amount of energy from each source:
- New energy technologies like geothermal, hydrogen, and battery storage – 75% support / 13% oppose
- Renewable energy sources including solar and wind – 68% support / 27% oppose
- Nuclear energy – 62% support / 26% oppose
- Fossil fuels including oil, coal, and gas – 52% support / 42% oppose
Democrats and independents both show a clear preference for renewable energy over fossil fuels. Independents, for example, support government policies to increase renewable energy by a three-to-one margin (69% support / 22% oppose) but are divided on policies to increase fossil fuels (43% support / 45% oppose).
Republicans, meanwhile, break sharply with the rest of the electorate both in their high support for increasing fossil fuels and in their relatively low support for renewables:
- Fossil fuels including oil, coal, and gas – 86% support / 10% oppose among Republicans
- Nuclear energy – 76% support / 16% oppose among Republicans
- New energy technologies like geothermal, hydrogen, and battery storage – 71% support / 18% oppose among Republicans
- Renewable energy sources including solar and wind – 44% support / 51% oppose among Republicans
Voters don’t have a clear idea about the relative advantages of different energy sources, but suspect that renewables generate electricity faster and more affordably while fossil fuels are more reliable. When asked to choose which type of energy source can produce new energy for the lowest price, voters are more likely to choose renewables than any other source:
- Renewable energy sources including solar and wind – 32%
- Nuclear energy – 24%
- Fossil fuels including oil, coal, and natural gas – 17%
- New energy technologies like geothermal, hydrogen, and battery storage – 8%
- Not sure – 18%
Most Democrats (54%) can correctly say that renewables produce new energy at the lowest price, as do a plurality of independents (32%). Republicans, however, are more inclined to believe that nuclear energy (35%) or fossil fuels (31%) can produce new energy at the lowest price. Only 11% of Republicans select renewables as the most cost-effective option on the list.
When it comes to speed, a plurality say that solar farms can be built and start producing energy the fastest compared to wind, gas, nuclear, or coal:
- Solar farms – 28%
- Natural gas plants – 16%
- Wind farms – 10%
- Nuclear power plants – 10%
- Coal plants – 9%
- Not sure – 27%
Democrats (44%) and independents (30%) are both most likely to select solar as the fastest option from this list, while Republicans are most likely to say that natural gas plants can produce energy the fastest (26%).
In terms of reliability, voters overall have more confidence in fossil fuels than renewable energy sources. Below are the percentages who rate each source as “extremely” or “very” reliable:
- Fossil fuels including oil, coal, and gas – 64%
- Nuclear energy – 58%
- Renewable energy sources including solar and wind – 44%
- New energy technologies like geothermal, hydrogen, and battery storage – 37%
The wide gap in perceived reliability between fossil fuels and renewables is largely driven by Republicans: nearly nine in ten Republicans (88%) rate fossil fuels as “extremely” or “very” reliable, while just 17% rate renewable energy sources as “extremely” or “very” reliable.
The idea that fossil fuels are more reliable than renewables has also caught on with independents, however, as independents are 13 points more likely to rate fossil fuels as “extremely” or “very” reliable (56%) than renewable energy sources (43%).
Bipartisan majorities support measures to speed up energy permitting, even if it weakens environmental reviews. Following a simulated debate on the topic, voters say that they support speeding up permitting and reducing regulations for new energy projects in their state by a 68%-23% margin.
Below are the arguments that respondents saw on the topic:
“Several states are considering changes to speed up the process for approving and building new energy projects. Supporters say it would help add new energy to the grid sooner to meet rising demand. Opponents say it would limit community input and weaken environmental reviews.”
Based on this information, both Democrats (65% support / 25% oppose) and Republicans (77% support / 17% oppose) support the idea of speeding up permitting for energy projects by wide margins.
Voters are well aware that Trump supports oil, gas, and coal, and majorities also believe that he opposes solar and wind. Around four in five voters can correctly say that the Trump administration supports energy production from oil and gas (83%) and from coal (78%). Meanwhile, roughly two-thirds (66%) recognize that the administration opposes wind energy and the majority (57%) also recognize that the administration opposes solar energy.
Climate Power – The most effective messages in the debate over energy costs educate voters about the cost-effectiveness of clean energy and call out corporate greed [Deck]
Voters believe that the president and Congress have a role in electricity prices. In this survey of voters nationwide (excluding Alaska, California, and Hawaii), Climate Power finds that around half of voters (47%) believe that the president and Congress have “a lot” of impact on electricity prices.
While this is a significant share of the electorate, voters believe that national leaders have relatively more of an impact on the costs of health care and health insurance (68% “a lot”), groceries (63%), housing (61%), and gasoline (61%).
Voters are inclined to believe that clean energy can bring electricity online quickly and affordably and that clean energy rollbacks will drive up electricity prices. Using a 0-10 scale of truth, where 10 means “definitely true” and 0 means “definitely false,” Climate Power finds that majorities rate each of following statements about energy prices as likely true (6+) and relatively few rate each statement as likely false (“4” or lower):
- Decisions by Congress about whether and how much the country invests in different sources have a real impact on the electricity rates I pay – 71% true / 13% false
- With energy prices already high and electricity demand rising, now is the time to produce more clean energy like wind and solar, not less – 68% true / 17% less
- Adding more wind and solar power to the electricity grid will help keep my electricity rates lower – 63% true / 21% false
- The actions that Congress has taken to roll back the use of clean energy will cause energy prices to rise faster and hurt regular Americans – 62% true / 22% false
- New solar and wind farms can bring electricity online more quickly and at a lower cost than new gas power plants – 61% true / 21% false
A slim majority also rate it as likely true (53% true / 27% false) that “the expansion of AI data centers is one of the biggest reasons for increasing electricity prices.” However, the lack of conviction behind this statement is consistent with other polling we’ve seen that voters still aren’t that familiar with the rise of AI data centers or their impacts.
Voters find it credible that Trump and Republican lawmakers are blocking clean energy projects, and that oil, gas, and power companies are also part of this effort. Again using a 0-10 scale of truth, Climate Power finds that majorities rate each of following statements as likely true (6+):
- Oil and gas CEOs are actively working to make it harder to build new solar and wind energy projects to protect their own profits – 60% true / 20% false
- Power company CEOs are actively working to make it harder to build new solar and wind energy projects because they make higher profits from new gas power plants – 57% true / 22% false
- Republican lawmakers, oil and gas CEOs, and monopoly utility companies are working together to make it harder to build new solar and wind energy projects – 55% true / 27% false
- Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers are actively working to make it harder to build new solar and wind energy projects – 54% true / 25% false
In a head-to-head debate over the causes of energy price increases, voters side more with an argument in favor of clean energy. When asked to choose between two competing arguments about energy costs, voters agree more that efforts to block solar and wind are driving up electricity costs than an opposing statement that puts the blame on other factors like the expansion of data centers:
- Efforts by Republican lawmakers, monopoly utility companies, and Big Oil CEOs to make it harder to build wind and solar energy projects are going to drive electricity prices even higher than they would otherwise be – 57% agree more
- The rising demand from AI data centers and other sources is going to cause energy prices to increase, so whatever we do when it comes to wind and solar isn’t going to have much impact on prices – 43% agree more
The most persuasive messages about energy prices educate voters on the cost-effectiveness of clean energy and highlight corporate greed. In testing a variety of messages about why energy costs are increasing, Climate Power finds that three stand out in their persuasiveness to voters:
- “Solar and wind farms only take one or two years to build, while gas power plants take six or more years and are far more expensive. And once solar and wind farms are built, they produce a lot of electricity for very little cost. A single acre of solar panels can power 80 homes, and just two turns of a wind turbine can power a home for a day. That’s why clean energy is already 50% cheaper than electricity from gas power plants.”
- “Monopoly utility companies are focused on getting rich. They make higher profits from gas power plants, so they have delayed solar and wind projects while increasing rates, making record profits, and giving massive bonuses to their executives. Some of these companies have seen their profits and executive pay more than double over the last three years, while consumers are paying higher and higher rates.”
- “Solar and wind farms only take one or two years to build, while gas power plants take six or more years and are far more expensive. And once solar and wind farms are built, they produce a lot of electricity for very little cost. That’s why clean energy is already 50% cheaper than electricity from gas power plants, and it’s why we already get more than 25% of our electricity from wind and solar, even though many Americans don’t realize it.”
Data for Progress – Americans overwhelmingly support government investments in energy efficiency and electrification [Release, Crosstabs]
Americans overwhelmingly support tax incentives for energy efficiency. Roughly seven in ten Americans (72% support / 18% oppose) say that they support tax incentives for energy efficiency when provided with the following explanation:
“Currently, the U.S. government provides tax incentives, such as rebates and tax credits, that lower the cost of purchasing energy-efficient electric home appliances, including heat pumps, rooftop solar panels, induction stoves, and electric water heaters.”
Americans also support a range of housing policies that promote energy efficiency, electrification, and sustainability. In testing a variety of policy solutions for today’s housing crisis, Data for Progress also finds broad support for each of the following proposals:
- Investing in energy efficiency and electrification upgrades for low- and moderate-income households – 74% support / 13% oppose
- Providing low-interest government loans and other financial support to affordable housing developers to construct new affordable housing with high sustainability standards – 72% support / 14% oppose
- Providing low-interest government loans and other financial support to affordable housing developers to retrofit their existing properties to be more energy efficient and better prepared for extreme weather events – 72% support / 14% oppose
- Providing financial subsidies to private companies and researchers to develop new, commercially-available, energy-efficient electric appliances and similar technologies – 64% support / 19% oppose
- Constructing new, sustainable affordable housing developments, owned fully or partially by the government, with electrified appliances and high energy efficiency – 62% support / 23% oppose
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