Strong Momentum for Clean Energy, Transmission and Geothermal
AUSTIN, TX (April 28, 2025) – A poll released today by Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation (CTEI) reveals that, across the board, Texans continue to support the advancement of clean energy, with growing awareness of the benefits to consumers. The biennial survey shows that Texans back enhancements to the transmission grid and a continued preference for an “all of the above” energy strategy which utilizes all available sources to meet our growing needs.
Matt Welch, State Director of CTEI, stated, “With each passing year, more Texans are realizing that clean energy policies lead to greater customer choice, improved reliability, new technologies, and better pricing. With our booming economy, burgeoning population, and increased energy demands from technology including data centers and AI, Texas must prepare for the future using every tool in our energy arsenal. This latest data underscores that residents understand what is at stake, supporting a wide range of common sense, market-driven solutions. By getting this right, Texas will remain a national leader in energy production and job creation.”
Support Among Texans Generally
Support among Texans to accelerate clean energy development continues to grow. Eighty-four percent of Texans now support such action, including 44% strongly supporting this approach. Three-quarters of Republicans, and nearly 90% of Independents, voiced support. Texas voters believe more use of clean energy will:
- Help the economy and create jobs (85% overall; 81% of Republicans, 79% of Independents)
- Improve reliability of the electric grid (85% overall; 79% of Republicans, 82% of Independents)
- Increase customer choice (84% overall; 77% of Republicans, 87% of Independents)
- Result in cheaper energy (62% overall; 53% of Republicans, 70% of Independents)
These numbers are the highest level among the four surveys commissioned to date. Over 80% of Republicans now believe investing in clean energy will help the economy, an increase of 13% from the last survey in 2023. And for the first time, a majority of Republicans now believe clean energy will result in cheaper energy.
Support for Improving Transmission Grid
With policy development underway on how Texas should address an outdated transmission grid, CTEI polled sentiments on this issue. An overwhelming super-majority of voters – 95% – agree that it’s necessary to build new transmission lines so that utility companies can provide the reliable power Texas needs. Nearly 90% would still support transmission line projects even if constructed in their own community. Furthermore, 84% of respondents favored increased government spending to modernize Texas’ electricity grid, including 46% who strongly favored this priority. The top reason voters conveyed for this support was to ensure grid reliability.
Strong Support for Private Property Rights and Other Proposals
Property rights and preserving Texans’ ability to use their land as they choose, remain a cherished and fundamental right, according to this survey. Ninety-one percent of voters favor protecting property owners’ ability to produce electricity on their land, or lease their land for renewable energy production, such as wind turbines, or solar panels, with 51% strongly favoring this position.
Other policies which enjoyed wide support from respondents included the following:
- Energy efficiency upgrades to reduce the amount of power we need to generate and purchase (92% favor; 51% strongly favor)
- Allow the sale of electricity from outside a monopoly utility so that customers can have more choice and competition (90% favor; 51% strongly favor)
- Enable more homeowners and business owners to invest in their own renewable energy by compensating them for the extra energy they produce on their own property, which is then used by other customers (90% favor; 51% strongly favor)
- Encourage utilities to invest more in efficiency programs to reduce energy waste and the amount of power we need to generate and purchase (93% favor; 49% strongly favor)
- To promote competition, allow more companies to bid on transmission construction projects instead of allowing only a handful of utility company monopolies to bid on these projects (89% favor; 49% strongly favor)
- Support for carbon capture technology remains solid, with nearly three-quarters of voters backing the technology, including 68% support from both Republicans and Independents.
Support for Free Market Policies
Fully 61% of respondents continue to endorse policies which allow the free market and private sector to provide clean energy production, compared to only 38% who prefer government mandates and incentives to accomplish those goals.
Geothermal Energy Support
Geothermal energy holds great promise by providing baseload, dispatchable energy to meet Texas’ growing energy needs, and 42% of Texans believe that more emphasis should be placed on this technology, especially given that geothermal has the lowest lifecycle carbon emissions and lowest water contamination concerns of all energy technologies.
Nuclear Energy Support
Underscoring Texans’ support for embracing all forms of energy, the expansion of nuclear energy garners the highest level of support in the history of the CTEI survey. With an 11% increase in support since 2020, 42% of voters believe more emphasis should be placed on nuclear power, including 51% of Republicans who share this view.
Concern Over China’s Growing Threat
Finally, the CTEI survey found that Texans are deeply concerned with China’s potential impact on energy security. Over 70% of Texas voters expressed concern over this threat.
The poll was conducted by the national Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies (POS). The survey was completed March 22-30, 2025, among 1,000 registered voters, and was overseen by Glen Bolger, POS Partner and co-founder. Bolger is the only pollster to be a three-time winner of the “Republican Pollster of the Year” award from the American Association of Political Consultants. You can view the poll results by clicking here:
