22 Mar (NucNet): Americans’ support for the use of nuclear power has risen to 62 percent, establishing a new high and beating the 60 percent mark for the first time, polling company Gallup has said.
According to a new Gallup poll of 1,014 people, 62 percent favour the use of nuclear and 28 percent now say they “strongly favor” nuclear power, also the highest Gallup has measured since the question was first asked in 1994.
This year's results, from a poll carried out from 4-7 March 2010, came after President Barack Obama announced in February the first federal government loan guarantees to build the first nuclear power plants in the US in three decades.
Gallup said Mr Obama’s support for nuclear power “apparently hasn’t done much to change how Democrats view the issue”, because a slim majority of 51 percent favor it, virtually unchanged from last year.
Most of the increased support for nuclear energy over the past three years has come among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, who have consistently been more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to favor the use of nuclear energy.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
US Plans To Give Nuclear Industry USD 36 Billion Loan Guarantee Boost (News in Brief No. 18, 2 February 2010)
Obama Announces Loan Guarantees For First US Units In 30 Years (News in Brief No. 34, 16 February 2010)
