{"id":7881,"date":"2025-10-16T12:53:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/growing-share-of-americans-favor-more-nuclear-power\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T13:05:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:05:37","slug":"support-for-expanding-nuclear-power-is-up-in-both-parties-since-2020","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/10\/16\/support-for-expanding-nuclear-power-is-up-in-both-parties-since-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Support for expanding nuclear power is up in both parties since 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Diablo
Diablo Canyon, the only operational nuclear power plant left in California, is seeking to extend operations past its scheduled decommissioning in 2025. (George Rose\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About six-in-ten U.S. adults now say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity, according to a Pew Research Center survey fielded in April and May<\/a>. That\u2019s up from 43% in 2020, driven by increasing support among both Republicans and Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration and Democrats and Republicans in Congress support expanding nuclear power. The second Trump administration has issued four executive orders<\/a> aimed at dramatically increasing the United States\u2019s nuclear capacity. And a major law President Donald Trump signed in July 2025 preserved many tax incentives<\/a> for nuclear power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Americans remain more likely to favor expanding solar (77%) and wind power (68%) than nuclear power (59%). But while support for solar and wind power has declined by double digits since 2020 \u2013 largely driven by drops in Republican support<\/a> \u2013 the share who favor nuclear power has grown by 16 percentage points since then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we did this<\/summary>\n

To measure public attitudes toward the use of nuclear power in the United States, we analyzed our prior data from Pew Research Center surveys. Most of the data comes from a survey of 5,085 U.S. adults conducted April 28-May 4, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center\u2019s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Interviews were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP\u2019s methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the survey\u00a0questions used for this analysis<\/a>, the topline<\/a> and the survey\u00a0methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, we tracked the number of U.S. nuclear power reactors over time by analyzing data from the International Atomic Energy Agency\u2019s (IAEA) Power Reactor Information System<\/a>. The IAEA classifies a reactor as \u201coperational\u201d from the date of its first electrical grid connection to the date of its permanent shutdown. Reactors that face temporary outages are still categorized as operational. Annual totals exclude reactors that closed that year.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Views by gender<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Attitudes on nuclear power production have long differed by gender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our April-May survey, men remain far more likely than women to favor expanding nuclear power plants to generate electricity in the U.S. (74% vs. 44%). This pattern holds among adults in both political parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views on nuclear energy differ by gender globally, too, according to a Center survey conducted from fall 2019 to spring 2020<\/a>. In 18 of the 20 places surveyed, men were more likely than women to favor using more nuclear power as a source of domestic energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views by party<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to favor expanding nuclear power to generate electricity in the U.S. Roughly seven-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (69%) say they favor this, compared with about half of Democrats and Democratic leaners (52%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans have supported nuclear power in greater shares than Democrats each time we\u2019ve asked this question since 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partisan gap in support for nuclear power (17 percentage points) is smaller than those for other types of energy, including fossil fuel sources such as offshore oil and gas drilling (52-point gap) and coal mining (50 points).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Americans in both parties see nuclear power more positively now than they did earlier this decade. The share of Democrats who favor expanding it is up 15 points since 2020, and Republican support has grown by 16 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While younger Republicans tend to be more supportive of increasing domestic renewable energy sources<\/a> than their older peers, the pattern reverses for nuclear energy. For example, Republicans under 30 are more likely than those ages 65 and older to favor more solar panel farms (69% vs. 53%). But they are 14 points less<\/em> likely than the oldest Republicans to support expanding nuclear power (61% vs. 75%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Americans favor or oppose expanding nuclear power in their own words<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We also asked Americans to share the main reason they favor or oppose more nuclear power in their own words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those who favor more nuclear power, the most common reason why is that it is a clean or low-carbon way of producing energy (40%). <\/strong>As two respondents wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Nuclear power plants] are currently the only carbon-free form of power generation capable of producing large amounts of power efficiently, and without the downside of being dependent on weather conditions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are a clean source of energy that can produce a massive amount of energy for the amount of money and time invested in them.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of those who favor more nuclear power also say this because it is efficient (20%) or safe (13%):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve learned to maintain safety with nuclear power. (Think of military usages such as submarines and aircraft carriers.) It’s clean and waste can be safely handled.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other reasons highlighted include economic benefits (13%), reliability (10%) and the need for more varied energy sources (9%) as reasons they support nuclear power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those who oppose more nuclear power, safety concerns are the most common reason (44%).<\/strong> This includes respondents who say nuclear power is generally not safe, mention risks of catastrophe and risks to human health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf something were to go wrong, it could be catastrophic.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Nuclear power plants] are dangerous, and I don\u2019t trust humans to be responsible enough to take the necessary safety precautions.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other reasons for opposing nuclear power include general concerns about its environmental impact (14%) and specific concerns about toxic waste (14%). For instance, one respondent wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNuclear power plants tend to set radiation off and it destroys our environment.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A look at U.S. nuclear power reactors<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"An<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. currently has 94 nuclear power reactors, including one that opened<\/a> in Georgia last year. Reactors collectively generated 18.2% of all U.S. electricity that came from utility-scale facilities in 2024, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About half of the United States\u2019s nuclear power reactors (48) are in the South, while nearly a quarter (22) are in the Midwest. There are 18 reactors in the Northeast and six in the West, according to data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of U.S. reactors has fallen since peaking at 111 in 1990. Nine Mile Point-1 \u2013 located in Scriba, New York \u2013 is the oldest U.S. nuclear power reactor still in operation. It first connected to the power grid in November 1969.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the 94 current reactors began operations in the 1970s (41) or 1980s (44), IAEA data shows. (The IAEA classifies reactors as \u201coperational\u201d from their first electrical grid connection to their date of permanent shutdown.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the last decade, eight reactors shut down, and just three new reactors joined the power fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the many reasons nuclear power projects have dwindled in recent decades may be the perceived dangers following nuclear accidents<\/a> in the U.S. and abroad. For example, the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident<\/a> led the Japanese government and other countries to rethink their nuclear energy plans<\/a>. High construction costs and radioactive waste storage<\/a> are also often-cited hurdles to nuclear energy development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, many advocates say that nuclear power is key to reducing emissions<\/a> from electricity generation. Tech companies have also expressed recent interest in reviving decommissioned nuclear power sites, including Pennsylvania\u2019s Three Mile Island<\/a> and Iowa\u2019s Duane Arnold<\/a>, to power large artificial intelligence-focused data centers. Michigan\u2019s Palisades plant<\/a>, which shuttered in 2022, could become the first recommissioned reactor this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: Here are the survey\u00a0questions used for this analysis<\/a>, the topline<\/a> and the survey\u00a0methodology<\/a>.<\/em> This is an update of a post originally published on March 23, 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About six-in-ten U.S. adults now say they favor more nuclear power plants to generate electricity, up from 43% in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":584,"featured_media":8975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-03-23T19:12:22Z","apple_news_api_id":"14c056f9-3b24-49e0-9efe-5d100a8573c8","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-08-18T14:54:22Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AFMBW-TskSeCe_l0QCoVzyA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063270","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[264,270,417,38],"bylines":[966,541,652],"collection":[],"datasets":[2779],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[518],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-7881","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy-environment","category-energy","category-partisanship-issues","category-political-issues","bylines-brian-kennedy","bylines-isabelle-pula","bylines-rebecca-leppert","datasets-american-trends-panel-wave-148","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-science"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":1297,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2025\/10\/16\/support-for-expanding-nuclear-power-is-up-in-both-parties-since-2020\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":8975,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2022\/03\/FT_22.03.15_NuclearPower_feature-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2022\/03\/FT_22.03.15_NuclearPower_feature-jpg.webp?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"caption":"Diablo Canyon, the only operational nuclear power plant left in California, is seeking to extend operations past its scheduled decommissioning in 2025. 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