Voters Want The Government To Prioritize Clean Energy. In July 2020, Yale Program on Climate Change Communications polling found that 7 in 10 voters think federal stimulus funding should prioritize the clean energy industry over fossil fuels. Pew Research’s June 2020 polling affirmed that voters support clean energy over fossil fuels, reporting that 90% of Americans favor developing more solar panel farms and 83% want more wind turbine farms. Nearly two-thirds (65%) oppose coal mining. 

Support Across the Political Spectrum for Clean Energy Standards at the State Level 

Battleground States Are Passing Clean Energy Standards. In 2019, Maine, Virginia, Colorado and Nevada all passed policies moving to 100% clean electricity. Shortly after ousting Trump aligned Republican Governor Paul LePage, Maine passed a bipartisan set of bills increasing the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. And Virginia became the first state in the South to require 100% clean electricity with the Virginia’s Clean Economy Act including a 100% renewable portfolio standard by 2050. All of these states were competitive at the national and state levels in the last decade. 

Clean Energy Standards Enjoy Bipartisan Support at the State Level. Maine’s 100% Renewable Portfolio Standard legislation was championed by several Republicans. And North Carolina’s more modest renewable portfolio standard has been supported by multiple bipartisan votes since 2007 and continues to drive the state’s booming clean energy industry. 

Voters in Key States Prefer Clean Energy Standards. Recent polling from Data for Progress found strong majorities in favor of a bold federal clean electricity standard in ten key states such as Georgia, West Virginia, and Montana. The likely voters polled expressed support for expanding the use of clean energy through the CES in President Biden’s American Jobs Plan.  Before the 2020 election, polling from Data for Progress also found that voters in Arizona, Iowa, Maine, and North Carolina were more likely to support candidates who would “move the country to 100% clean electricity by 2035” and “set standards and guidelines for carbon emission reductions.” 

Learn More about a Clean Electricity Standard

With the Clean Electricity Standard in the American Jobs Plan, Congressional Democrats have a unique opportunity to deliver on the popular climate agenda that helped secure their governing majorities and launch a clean energy economic recovery that will create millions of good paying jobs, prevent hundreds of thousands of unnecessary premature deaths, and put money back in consumer’s pockets. It’s a no brainer: it’s time to pass a federal CES.

We’ve laid out a specific roadmap for the Biden administration and Congress to pass a Clean Electricity Standard with major investments and justice-centered policies to achieve 100% carbon-free power by 2035