Most Americans now oppose nuclear energy, poll finds
Source: The Hill
A majority of Americans oppose using nuclear energy for the first time, according to a new poll.
Fifty-four percent dislike nuclear energy in the Gallup survey released Friday, with 44 percent who support using it.
Pollsters found that opposition toward nuclear energy is up 11 points since last year, when 43 percent rejected using it as an energy source.
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The poll has tracked public opinion on nuclear power since 1994. The high point in support for nuclear energy was in 2010 at 62 percent.
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Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/273558-poll-majority-of-americans-oppose-nuclear-energy-for-first-time
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March 18, 2016
For First Time, Majority in U.S. Oppose Nuclear Energy
by Rebecca Riffkin
Story Highlights
- 54% of Americans oppose nuclear energy, 44% in favor
- First time in Gallup's trend that majority oppose nuclear energy
- Both major parties less likely to favor nuclear energy than in 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the first time since Gallup first asked the question in 1994, a majority of Americans say they oppose nuclear energy. The 54% opposing it is up significantly from 43% a year ago, while the 44% who favor using nuclear energy is down from 51%.
Gallup asks Americans as part of its annual Environment poll if they favor or oppose the use of nuclear energy as one way to provide electricity. Each year from 2004 to 2015, a majority of Americans said they favored the use of nuclear energy, including a high of 62% in 2010.
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Democrats and Republicans Less Likely to Favor Nuclear Energy
Republicans continue to be more likely than Democrats and independents to be in favor of nuclear energy. Still, support for the use of nuclear energy among Republicans and Democrats has declined in comparison to 2015. A slight majority of Republicans, 53%, are in favor of nuclear energy, down significantly from 68% last year. One in three Democrats, 34%, favor it, down from 42% in 2015. Independents' support is essentially unchanged from last year, but is down from the high Gallup found in 2010.
In previous years, as many as three in four Republicans were in favor of nuclear energy, peaking at 76% in 2009. The percentage of Democrats favoring nuclear energy also reached its high the same year, at 54%. Independents have typically been less likely than Republicans to favor nuclear energy but have usually been more likely than Democrats to favor it, particularly in recent years.
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one political party has specifically said that it wants to "drown govt in the bathtub." And also consider that privatizing everything, the ultimate goal of drowning govt in the bathtub, is already leading to such things as lead in drinking water, the spoiling of public lands, crappy schools, etc. It's no wonder that people don't want the govt to build more nuclear plants. All that can come out of that is fat paychecks for private companies who proceed to put up shoddy nuclear plants that won't be adequately monitored, and that you, the citizen, will never know about a leak until you get radiation sickness, at which time you will be blamed for choosing to live in the wrong area.
