A survey sponsored by California-based software firm Aurora Solar found that most voting age respondents in the U.S. care about renewable energy and infrastructure and want presidential candidates to address these and related issues.

Market-research firm Dynata conducted the survey in August and compiled input from 1,000 people aged 18 and older who were asked about how important energy policies were to them and how these might affect their vote. Fully 79% of those responding said they wanted the presidential candidates to speak more about their energy and infrastructure policies.

Asked whether the next president should prioritize renewable energy development over fossil fuels, 73% of respondents said he or she should, either because fossil fuels were antiquated (31%) or because renewables were better for the environment (42%). A total of 27% preferred more fossil fuels over renewables because they were perceived as either less expensive or more reliable.

Attitudes about 2002 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) were mixed and more complex. While 38% of respondents thought the program was helping the climate, only 17% were taking advantage of incentives or planned to in the coming months. A total of 31% were either not planning on taking advantage of the IRA, didn’t think it was doing any good for the climate or were not concerned about the climate. Another 15% said they were not aware of the IRA or what it did.

While the survey showed overall support for renewable energy and infrastructure among voting-age adults, it was less clear about how this support translates into voting intent. According to the survey, 35% of respondents said a candidate’s support for renewable energy was extremely important in their decision to vote for that candidate, while 21% said it was not important. The remainder (45%) said renewable energy support was somewhat important.

Geographically, preferences in favor of a presidential candidate supporting renewable energy were strongest in the West (41%) and weakest in the Midwest (28%). The Aurora Solar-Dynata survey complements resent research from storage provider Powin finding that U.S. consumers strongly favor future renewable energy development over fossil fuels.

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