Pay attention, freshman members of Congress… In case you missed it, a couple of weeks ago Gallup released results from a recent poll suggesting that Americans want more alternative energy. Here’s what folks were asked:
What’s really interesting here is that, of all eight potential legislative actions, the passage of an alternative energy bill ranks at the top of the list. What’s even more interesting is that a majority of both Republican respondents (75 percent) and Democrat respondents (93 percents) voiced their support for such a bill. Try finding that much bipartisan support on any other issue — I dare you.
One more thing worth noting: you’ll see that, beyond alternative energy, Americans also seem to support expanding exploration and drilling for oil and natural gas. While renewable energy and fossil fuels are by no means incompatible, it’s interesting that respondents support both. This suggests to me that Americans are interested above all in energy sources that are clean (like solar, wind and other renewables) and domestic (like solar, wind and natural gas). Shocker, I know…
Notably absent from the poll question is coal, which is dirty, domestic and divisive. It also accounts for about half of all electricity generation, nationwide.
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