Recent polling of NC voters shows support is increasing for offshore wind

CARSON BUTTS: N.C. voters back clean energy.

Article from WRAL

Saturday, June 15, 2024 – Embracing clean energy is pragmatic politically and vital economically, not just helpful environmentally. Come election time, clean energy is a powerful winning issue for candidates of all stripes.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Carson Butts of Raleigh is state director of Conservatives for Clean Energy North Carolina.

North Carolina voters are sharply divided on a range of political issues, but they agree strongly across all partisan and ideological lines with policies to promote greater energy competition, a regional market for energy, and more renewable energy, including offshore wind.

The new 2024 North Carolina Energy Poll, conducted for Conservatives for Clean Energy NC and the national Clean Energy Buyers Association, found that among the state’s likely fall voters:

• More than 77% want more energy competition and consumer choice.
• Almost 80% say the state should modernize its laws to allow for greater competition with Duke Energy to meet our state’s future energy needs.
• About 77% think state law should require Duke Energy to join a regional wholesale energy market if it would save North Carolina residents and businesses hundreds of millions of dollars a year, as independent studies have suggested.
• More than 61% support building offshore wind turbines, up from 55% last year.
• Overall, 74% think state law should encourage more investment in renewable energy.

It seems that in America these days, you can’t get three out of four of people to agree that the sky is blue.

And yet, as the new poll shows, more than three-fourths of North Carolina’s voters across partisan and ideological lines favor sensible energy market reforms that would give consumers more choices while saving families and businesses hundreds of millions of dollars a year – a message that elected officials across our state should hear loud and clear.

As demand for electricity surges, we need all the energy sources we can get. Embracing clean energy is pragmatic politically and vital economically, not just helpful environmentally.

Come election time, clean energy is a powerful winning issue for candidates of all stripes.

Read more at: https://www.wral.com/story/carson-butts-n-c-voters-back-clean-energy/21483938/