Wednesday 27 March 2019

‘Most Americans support drastically reducing fossil fuel use’

‘Most Americans support drastically reducing fossil fuel use’

Most Americans support dramatically reducing fossil fuel use over the next twenty years.

That's according to a new survey conducted by analytics firm Gallup, which polled 1,039 adults from across the US about their views on energy policies.

The bulk of the 60% of US adults that said they would either "strongly favour" (27%) or "favour" (33%) policies to cut fossil fuel use said they believed it would be a good way to reduce emissions and slow down climate change.

Around 19% of those questioned said they would "oppose" the move to stop using so much oil, gas and coal, with 17% ticking the "strongly oppose" box.

Support for adopting greener forms of energy is significantly higher among Democrats (80%) and independents (60%) than among Republicans (37%).

The poll shows roughly 60% of Americans think such a change is "very likely" or "likely" to happen, with 80% wanting to achieve this through more emphasis on solar power and 70% believing wind turbines are the way forward.

Despite generally supporting a drastic reduction in fossil fuels, 41% still believe such policies will definitely or probably hurt the economy, compared to the 37% who believe they will help it - just 19% say such environmental and energy laws will have no effect on the country's economy.

The report reads: "Senators are unlikely to pass the Green New Deal in an upcoming vote on the legislation.

"But given that most Americans are open to legislation that has a goal of reducing global warming, the bill's sponsors have reason to continue to search for a solution that's more politically viable."

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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