Costs, the Economy, and Renewable Energy
GoodPower’s Good Data Lab surveyed 2,712 U.S. adults in March 2026 to test messaging strategies about energy costs, the economic benefits of renewable energy, and how to build broader support for renewables. Results show that personal cost saving messages are the most persuasive reason to support renewable energy across partisanship. Health benefits are also convincing, particularly for liberals and moderates, and messages about grid reliability outperformed many broader economic frames.
Key Findings
Energy costs rank differently depending on how you ask.
Electricity bills ranked as a top three cost concern, above rent or mortgage payments, when people rated their level of concern. But when forced to choose a single top concern, energy costs fell to fourth, behind food, housing, and healthcare, a gap worth noting when weighing how urgent energy costs feel relative to other bills. Participants placed the most responsibility for rising energy costs on utility companies’ profits and rising demand from large energy users like data centers. Republican opposition to renewable energy incentives, by contrast, rated as the least significant driver of rising costs among the factors tested, suggesting an awareness gap: most people don’t yet connect that opposition to their own bills.
Cost, reliability, and health messages consistently outperform broader economic frames.
An energy source being low-cost and reliable were the top priorities for participants, followed by low air and water pollution; being fast to build and American-made ranked lowest. Across political views, personal cost savings, health, and price stability were consistently the most convincing reasons to support renewable energy. Grid reliability also performed well, testing as the fifth-most-convincing message of twenty (6.39%), ahead of climate change and job creation. Job creation was moderately convincing on its own, while climate change was a top reason for liberals to support renewable energy, somewhat convincing for moderates, and much less so for conservatives. Specific word choices, like “low-cost” versus “most affordable” versus “cheapest,” had little effect on support, which ranged narrowly from 70.1% to 72.0%, a difference within margin of error. Broader message framing mattered more than word choice.
Partisan messaging moves approval ratings, in both directions.
Messaging about Democrats’ plans to boost clean energy and lower costs nearly quadrupled approval of how Congressional Democrats are handling energy costs, from 18.3% to 66.7%. Messaging about Republicans voting against renewable energy increased disapproval of Congressional Republicans by 12 points, from 60.6% to 72.6%.