For immediate release: August 28, 2014
Media Contacts:
Christine Durand, Minnesota Environmental Partnership, 651-789-0654, christine@mepartnership.org
St. Paul, Minn. (August 28, 2014) – Seven out of ten Midwesterners say that renewable energy like wind and solar power is a reliable, affordable option that is an increasing source of good jobs, according to a new region-wide public opinion survey released this week by a collaboration of environmental and conservation organizations within the RE-AMP network. According to the poll results, eight out of ten people surveyed believe that renewable energy will allow us to be more self-reliant and make our energy supply more secure.
The survey of 2, 477 Midwesterners in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin was conducted this summer by a bipartisan team — Public Opinion Strategies, which conducts polling for Republican candidates, and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, which specializes in polling for Democratic candidates.
The study found that voters in the Midwest, across political party, gender, age, and income categories, broadly agree that energy efficiencies, along with increasing solar and wind sources of energy are necessary to meet our future energy needs:
- 95% support increasing energy efficiency.
- 91% support increasing the use solar energy.
- 87% support increasing the use of wind energy.
Voters overwhelmingly said that we should move toward cleaner sources of energy (4 out of 5), while just 29% said that we should focus on drilling and digging for more oil, natural gas, and goal, in the U.S. to meet America’s future energy needs. When asked if they would be willing to pay a little extra on their energy bills to promote clean energy and energy efficiency, more than 80% said they would be willing to pay at least $1 per month.