Poll: strong support for wind energy, renewable standard

Voters overwhelmingly support increasing the use of wind power in the U.S. and adopting a strong Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), according to a national poll released today by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

“The poll's bottom line is clear: An overwhelming majority of American voters, on a bipartisan basis, want more wind power and support a national RES to increase its use,” said Anna Bennett and Neil Newhouse, partners respectively with Bennett, Petts & Normington and Public Opinion Strategies, the firms that conducted the poll.

“Wind works for America and that is why voters want Congress to pass a strong national RES” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “Americans understand that an RES will mean new manufacturing jobs, less dependence on imported energy, and more pure, clean, affordable energy for our country.”

Poll highlights include:

–An overwhelming, bipartisan majority — 89% — of American voters (including 84% of Republicans, 88% of Independents and 93% of Democrats) — believe increasing the amount of energy the nation gets from wind is a good idea.

–A majority of Americans — 56% — disapprove of the job Congress is doing on renewable energy and 67% believe Congress is not doing enough to increase renewable energy sources such as wind.

–A majority of Americans — 82% — believe the nation’s economy would be stronger (52%) or the same (30%) if we used more renewable energy sources like wind.

–A majority of Americans — 77% — support a national Renewable Electricity Standard. This support extends across party lines and includes 65% of Republicans, 69% of Independents, 92% of Democrats.

The poll was conducted March 27-28 by Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies and Anna Bennett of Bennett, Petts & Normington. The poll sampled a national survey of 600 likely voters. The margin of error is plus or minus four percentage points. Poll details are available here.

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