Support for renewable energy is falling among Republicans

One of the most striking things about the renewable energy explosion that’s happening in the U.S. is that much of it is happening in states run by politicians who don’t believe in the problem that wind and solar are supposed to solve. Acceptance of the evidence for climate change is typically lowest among Republicans, yet many of the states where renewable energy has boomed—wind in Wyoming and Iowa, solar in Texas—are run by Republicans.

This is partly because, until about 2020, there was a strong bipartisan consensus in favor of wind and solar development, with bipartisan support exceeding 75%. But since then, support among Republicans has fallen dramatically, approaching 50 percent, according to polls released this week.

To some extent, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. The current leader of the Republican Party claims that wind turbines cause cancer and that offshore wind kills whales. Conservative-backed groups spread disinformation to stir opposition to solar power plants.

Meanwhile, since 2022, the inflation-control bill has been touted as one of the Biden administration’s most important achievements and has fueled significant investment in renewable energy, mostly in red states. Negative partisanship is undoubtedly contributing to the decline in support.

One of the striking things about the new survey data collected by the Pew Research Center is how much it skews with age. When given the choice between increasing fossil fuel production or increasing renewable energy, Republicans under 30 favored renewables by a two-to-one margin. Republicans over age 30, by contrast, favored fossil fuels in a ratio that increased with age, reaching a peak of three to one in favor of fossil fuels among those age 65 and older. There has been a decline in support among people over 50 since 2020; support remained stable among younger groups until 2024, when the 30-49 age group began to favor fossil fuels.

Democrats, meanwhile, favor renewable energy by 75 points, with little difference across age groups and no sign of significant change over time. They are twice as likely as Republicans to think a solar farm would help the local economy.

Similar differences were evident when Pew asked about policies to encourage electric vehicle sales, with 83 percent of Republicans opposing a goal of making half of all cars sold electric by 2032. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats favored the policy.

There is also a visible rural-urban divide (consistent with Republicans gaining more support from rural voters). 40 percent of city residents believed that a solar farm would improve the local economy; Only 25 percent of the villagers agreed with this. Rural residents were also more likely to say that photovoltaic farms make the landscape unattractive and take up too much space. (Suburban participants consistently fell between rural and urban participants).

What is behind these changes? The most serious factor seems to be the negative partisanship associated with the election of Joe Biden.

Among Republicans, support for each form of government began to shift in 2020 – fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear power. Among Democrats, this is largely untrue. High levels of support for renewable energy and aversion to fossil fuels have largely remained unchanged. The only exception is nuclear energy, for which support has increased among both Democrats and Republicans (the Biden administration has adopted a number of pro-nuclear policies).

That is not to say that non-political factors do not play a role. The rapid expansion of renewable energy means that more and more people see open facilities in their neighbourhoods and see them as a sign of a changing society. Some degree of backlash was almost inevitable, and in this case the close links between conservative lobbyists and fossil fuel interests were ready to exploit it.