Renewable Energy World

The media feeding frenzy over government support for now-bankrupt Solyndra has had no apparent impact on public impressions of solar energy or even of government support for solar, says a new poll from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Hart Research.

“Despite a news environment that has not always been friendly, it has not inflicted any real drop in solar energy’s measure of public support,” said Hart senior analyst Molly O’Rourke in an online conference to announce the findings.  “We got an array of very favorable findings, broad support and breadth of constituency.”

Of 1,206 “likely” voters surveyed online nationwide between September 4 and 9, 92% said it was very or somewhat important for the U.S. to develop and use solar.  The percentage was 93% among the survey’s swing voters, which constituted its majority (762) and were defined as “ticket-splitters or who vote for candidates of either party.”