For the first time since Gallup began polling on nuclear power in 1994, a majority of Americans said they opposed use of the power source.
Support has rapidly deteriorated from a year ago with those opposed jumping from 43 percent in 2015 to 54 percent in the latest poll, Gallup said Monday.
That's an eleven percentage point jump in the number opposed in one year. Those who support nuclear power, meanwhile, has slipped from 51 percent to 44 percent, a seven percentage point drop.
The question was asked as part of Gallup's annual Environment poll. To date, nuclear power has enjoyed steady support from a majority of Americans. Support peaked in 2010 with a high of 62 percent. That was a year before the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi generating station in Japan.
Gallup noted that its 2011 poll was taken just a few days before the giant earthquake and subsequent tsunami event triggered the triple-reactor meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi. In that poll, 57 percent of Americans supported nuclear power. But a year later, nuclear power was still supported by a majority in the country.
The accident may still be weighing on peoples' minds, but Gallup says economic issues are also pressing on support for nuclear power. “Lower gasoline prices over the past year are likely driving greater opposition toward the use of nuclear power,” Gallup said. “As Americans have paid less at the pump, their level of worry about the nation's energy situation has dropped to 15-year low levels,” the polling service said.
This points to the economics realities that can skew concern for the environment, according to Gallup. With prices low at the gasoline pump, “This appears to have resulted in more Americans prioritizing environmental protection and fewer backing nuclear power as an alternative energy source.”
While energy issues have not been among the top concerns in this presidential primary season, Gallup said that Republicans are still more apt to support nuclear power than Democrats or Independents.
In the poll, those identifying themselves as Republicans indicated support for nuclear power 54 percent of the time, down sharply from 68 percent in 2015. Among Democrats, support was at 34 percent, down from 42 percent in 2015. Among Independents, support was statistically unchanged from a year earlier, Gallup said.