Surveys show US public support for nuclear energy

Friday, 11 April 2025

In the poll commissioned by Radiant Energy Group, Savanta questioned 23,795 adults from 23 US states. Fieldwork was undertaken between 30 August and 13 September 2024, before the announcement of the Three Mile Island/Crane Clean Energy Center restart plans and before the US election. The survey was carried out online. The survey covered 23 US states, selected to include those with more than three operational reactors, the seven key swing states, the ten most populous states, and six additional states of interest.

Across the 23 surveyed states, 40% of respondents were found to support nuclear energy, compared with 27% who oppose it. Every state surveyed shows net support, with the highest levels recorded in Georgia, Texas, and Arizona.

Regarding government policy, the public wants to keep using nuclear energy and build new plants. More than three times as many respondents said they want to keep using nuclear energy rather than phase it out. In most surveyed states, more than 40% support the building of new nuclear plants – twice as many as those wanting it to be phased out.

The survey found that 37% of respondents see nuclear energy as creating no or low levels of carbon emissions, while 43% see nuclear energy as creating moderate or high levels of carbon emissions.

"Georgia and South Carolina were significantly impacted by delays in the construction of Vogtle units 3 and 4 and the eventual abandonment of the VC Summer reactors, respectively," Radiant Energy said. "While these states are understandably among the most concerned about the time it takes to build nuclear plants, they are also two of the strongest in support for nuclear energy."

National attitudes to nuclear
 

A survey conducted by Gallup has found high support for nuclear energy across the USA, with 61% of respondents favouring the use of nuclear energy - just one percentage point below the record high in 2010.

The poll showed that 29% of US adults 'strongly' and 32% 'somewhat' favour nuclear energy. At the same time, 20% of respondents 'somewhat' and 15% 'strongly' oppose using nuclear energy.

The findings come from Gallup's annual Environment poll, conducted 3-16 March.

When Gallup first surveyed support for nuclear in 1994, 57% of Americans favoured and 37% opposed using nuclear energy. By 2001, when the question was next asked, views were evenly divided - yet between 2004 and 2015, public support for the use of nuclear power again outpaced opposition, including a high of 62% in 2010.

In 2016, at a time of relatively low gas prices (and therefore likely low consumer desire for energy relief), a majority of US adults expressed opposition to the use of nuclear energy - the only time that has occurred, Gallup noted. After two readings when views were divided, in 2019 and 2022, Americans' support for using nuclear energy began to rise. Elevated inflation since 2021 may have contributed to this pattern, it suggests.

The latest survey found that 74% of Republicans, 64% of independents and 46% of Democrats support the use of nuclear energy. Republicans and independents are driving the latest increases in support, with Republicans up 12 percentage points and independents up eight percentage points since 2023. Democrats' support for nuclear energy, Gallup notes, has risen above 50% only four times since 1994 - most recently in 2012 - and has never surpassed 54%.