Public Opinion Watch: Iowa voters overwhelmingly back wind energy

Posted: 2011-07-01 Tom Gray

For Immediate Release

Friday, July 1

Contacts:

Ellen Carey, 202-249-7357, ecarey@awea.org

Shawna Seldon, 212-255-7541, shawna@rosengrouppr.com

New poll: In Iowa, the state that knows wind energy the best,

voters overwhelmingly support it and the companies that make it
Iowa voters give wind energy companies 85% approval,

favor wind 3:1 over all other sources for state’s energy needs

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 1, 2011) —Voters in Iowa, the state that launched the wind energy revolution with the first renewable energy purchase requirement in 1983 – and where this year so far, wind has generated 18.8% of the state’s electricity – overwhelmingly approve of wind energy and the companies that make it.

That’s the message of a new survey of 400 likely Iowa voters plus 308 additional likely Republican Iowa caucus-goers, by Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies, who is also polling this year for GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney.

The survey finds that:

·         85% statewide have a favorable impression of wind energy and wind power companies, including 62% with a “very favorable” impression.

·         By a majority of more than 3 to 1, Iowa voters choose wind as their preferred energy source for the state over all other sources.

·         Over eight in ten voters (81%) say wind energy companies have been good for the state’s economy, while fully 77% say these companies have helped bring new jobs to the state. 

“You don’t see numbers like these for anything except mom and apple pie,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, which commissioned the poll.

“In the state that knows wind energy the best, people overwhelmingly like it – and the companies that make it,” Bode said. “These poll results ought to reassure anyone thinking about inviting wind energy into their community, and getting all the rural economic development benefits and manufacturing base that Iowa has gotten from wind power.”

A memo from the pollsters describes these and other findings in the survey, conducted May 22-24 with a margin of error of +/- 4.9% for the statewide results.