Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

Partisan Divide Over Alternative Energy Widens

Republicans View Gov’t Energy Investments as Unnecessary

November 10, 2011

Public support for increased federal funding on research into alternative energy technology, including solar technology, has decreased substantially since the early months of the Obama administration, with nearly all the decline coming from Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and The Washington Post, conducted Nov. 3-6 among 1,005 adults, finds that a narrow majority of the public (52%) thinks that government investment is necessary to develop new energy technology. About four-in-ten (39%) say that businesses will produce needed energy technology without government support.

Read the full report to see data on public opinion about alternative energy, offshore drilling and nuclear power.