The results of the FDU Poll on energy released Tuesday morning made one thing clear: Voters in New Jersey favor and all-of-the-above approach to finding ways to generate more energy — and thus lower energy costs.
But the all-of-the-above view does not mean everyone is all-in on everything.
While the construction of more renewable energy plants, solar or wind, is nearly as popular among voters, with 67 percent supporting, but views of these plants are highly polarized.
Voters identify as Democrats (90 percent), liberals (87 percent) and progressives (92 percent) want more renewables by an overwhelming response.
Those identifying themselves as Republicans (38 percent support), conservatives (40 percent) and MAGA voters (28 percent) are opposed.
The fact the state has nearly a million more registered Democrats accounts for the overall count to be in favor of renewables.
Dan Cassino, the executive director of the FDU Poll, was not necessarily surprised by the party split.
“Voters take their cues from party leaders,” he said. “Republicans from President Trump on down have been vocally opposed to new renewable plants, and their supporters are following suit.”
The poll was conducted in late March with support from the International Union of Operating Engineers.
Of course, the debate on energy generation in New Jersey has been going on for some time.
A push toward more renewables by former Gov. Phil Murphy failed dramatically, as the pandemic — and subsequent supply-chain costs from it — were among reasons why the effort to make New Jersey the offshore wind capital of the East Coast never materialized.
Murphy, in his last days in office, said the state should not give up on wind.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill, in favor of the all-in approach, has made it clear she is a supporter of nuclear. Just last week, she signed a bill at the Salem Nuclear Generating facility, an act that was cheered by utilities and unions.
Worth noting in the poll: The construction of natural gas plants – which can come online faster than other types of power plants – gets the highest marks from voters.
Seventy-six percent of voters say that they favor building new natural gas plants, with relatively little variation across party lines: support is highest (83 percent) among Republicans but is 70 percent among Democrats. Similarly, support is nearly unanimous among conservative (87 percent) and MAGA voters (90 percent) but is still positive among progressive (60 percent) and liberal (68 percent) voters.
“Even voters who might prefer green energy options want something done fast,” Cassino said. “Electricity bills are up right now, and voters are in favor of anything that can be done to bring them down in the short term.”
The survey was conducted March 20–28 among 805 registered New Jersey voters, using a mix of live-caller phone interviews and text-to-web responses.
Data were weighted for sex, age, education, region and race/ethnicity. The margin of error is ±3.4 percentage points, or ±3.9 when accounting for weighting effects.
FDU Poll officials stress the sponsor, IUOE, had no role in question wording or data weighting.
