Voters in 3 Swing States Love Solar — But Does It Matter?

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The US Photo voltaic Power Industries Affiliation (SEIA) put out an attention-grabbing story in the present day, together with the graphic above (and under). It’s a enjoyable subject with uplifting findings, and we’ve reported on related surveys for about 15 years. That is at all times the case: most individuals help photo voltaic power, and help authorities help for photo voltaic power.

We’ve used this reality a number of occasions to argue that voters ought to vote for politicians who will help photo voltaic. (And everyone knows who that’s on the federal degree.) Given the significance of the local weather disaster, power safety, power costs, and the prices of air pollution, I do assume much more individuals ought to vote primarily based on this matter. Nonetheless, the very fact is, few individuals do.

Individuals vote primarily based on a handful of broader considerations, even when these considerations are manufactured from the surface and mainly a trick of politicians and political actors within the media — a lot of whom are certainly fooled themselves. Individuals get scared into considering they should vote primarily based on some obscure or distant difficulty — regardless that voting primarily based on that isn’t going to do something for his or her lives.

Anyway, let’s get again to the information.

“The 2024 presidential election goes to be shut.

“Polls point out a tightening race within the marketing campaign’s remaining weeks, and the end result might hinge on just a few thousand votes throughout the swing states.

“Given this dynamic, America’s solar and energy storage industry could have an outsized impact on deciding the next president of the United States.”

It’s a good level. The election needs to be so shut that votes primarily based on solar energy might even have an effect. Possibly. I’m nonetheless skeptical — besides that there are a lot of individuals who work within the photo voltaic business and may need the sense to vote primarily based on that. Nonetheless, even there, I believe most individuals are voting primarily based on different points. However who is aware of?

“The buildout of the photo voltaic and storage business — particularly the expansion of home photo voltaic manufacturing — is concentrated in swing states like Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and North Carolina. In reality, one research from the Power Innovation discovered that swing states will host 48% of newly announced clean energy manufacturing projects.

“These projects, the billions invested, and the tens of thousands of jobs created will certainly affect voters’ attitudes. And, as issues like inflation and domestic manufacturing rise to the top of voters’ priority lists, the case for incentivizing solar and storage is a potent political argument.”

Effectively, one can hope. Additionally, kudos to SEIA for making an attempt to place slightly of its weight into influencing the election. The group might be extra direct and make a bit extra influence if it wished to attempt, however I perceive tiptoeing and taking part in this extra cautiously in case the orange mafia-loving con man will get into workplace once more.

You possibly can read more of the stats, details and SEIA commentary on photo voltaic in three key states — Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania — if you wish to dig in additional.