Comparisons: The survey, “How Americans View National, Local, and Personal Energy Choices,” also finds that although a majority of Americans continue to support nuclear expansion, much larger majorities favor expansion of solar power (78 percent) and wind power (72 percent). However, support for these renewables has decreased since 2020, while nuclear support has increased during that time.
Gender gaps: Like the annual Bisconti surveys, the annual Pew surveys break down respondents’ views according to gender, political affiliation, and age.
Pew’s most recent data indicate that a wide gender gap continues to exists regarding support for more nuclear power plants in the United States. Seventy percent of men favor nuclear expansion, compared with only 44 percent of women.
Political gaps: There is also a rather large political gap: 67 percent of Republicans/Republican-leaning independents support nuclear expansion, compared with 49 percent of Democrats/Democrat-leaning independents.
This 18-point gap, though substantial, is smaller than the partisan political gaps regarding other energy sources. Support for expansion of coal mining (Republicans, 64 percent Republican; Democrats, 16 percent), offshore oil and gas drilling (73 percent vs. 26 percent), hydraulic fracturing (commonly called “fracking”; 68 percent vs. 23 percent), wind turbine farms (56 percent vs. 88 percent), and solar panel farms (64 percent vs. 91 percent) all record larger gaps.
Age gaps: Age is a further indicator of support for expansion of nuclear. Among Republicans aged 30 or older, 72 percent support nuclear expansion, compared with 61 percent of Republicans younger than 30, who are much more likely than their older political counterparts to support solar and wind expansion and much less likely to support fossil fuels.
Among Democrats, views on energy sources show less variability depending on age, with similar levels of support for solar and wind power and similar levels of opposition to fossil fuels and nuclear across all age categories.
Additional findings from the 2024 Pew energy survey can be explored in a series of pages on the Pew Research Center website.
A number of surveys and polls, such as Bisconti Research and University of Michigan surveys, have found steady or growing support for nuclear energy among Americans during the past several years. The Pew Research Center on Aug. 5 reported its nuclear-related findings from its survey conducted in May with a representative sample of U.S. adults. The results show 56 percent of respondents favor the construction of additional nuclear power plants in the United States.
