Voters See Ethanol Value, Across Party Lines

by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Each quarter, the Renewable Fuels Association works with a national polling firm to survey registered voters about their attitudes toward ethanol, policies like the Renewable Fuel Standard, and even proposed legislation like the Next Generation Fuels Act, the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act and the Flex Fuel Fairness Act. Over the past decade, these polls have consistently shown that the majority of Americans support ethanol and believe our nation should do more to expand the production and use of renewable fuels. Our surveys have generally shown that at least three out of five voters support ethanol and policies like the RFS, while only one in five oppose them. The other roughly 20% of voters don’t have an opinion or aren’t sure.

The polling results also routinely show that ethanol has bipartisan appeal—something that is increasingly rare in an era of extreme political division.

With the November election just around the corner, we asked more than 1,800 registered voters a new question in our September polling. We wanted to know how important certain energy policies were to them as they thought about the election and what candidates would get their vote: “With the 2024 general election just two months away, energy policy issues are gaining more attention from presidential and congressional candidates. Based on your perspective, how important are the following energy policy issues to you as you decide how to cast your vote for candidates in the November election?”

We then provided four options for them to consider: 1) boosting America’s energy supply with increased fossil fuel production; 2) limiting fossil fuels and boosting clean energy to combat climate change; 3) adopting a balanced “all the above” approach to U.S. energy production, including both renewable energy and fossil fuels and; 4) protecting the American consumer’s ability to choose the type of vehicle and fuel that works best for their values and budget.

The last two options were the most popular choices among those polled; 79% believed that protecting consumer fuel and vehicle choices was either very or somewhat important to them, and 70% felt the same about an “all of the above” approach. The least popular policy option across the entire sample was limiting fossil fuel production and boosting clean energy.

Diving deeper into the demographics, it was interesting to note that about the same share—80%—of Democrats and Republicans said energy policies that protect consumer choice are important to them. Meanwhile, the demographic data also reveals that the ethanol attributes most important to voters vary somewhat by party affiliation. Most attractive to Republicans is ethanol’s affordability and the fact that it is made in America. For Democrats, ethanol’s carbon footprint was most important, followed by its efficiency and affordability.

Perhaps the most eye-opening numbers from the latest polling showed that more than one-in-five registered voters still don’t know about, or have an opinion about, ethanol and the policies that support our industry. That means we still have work to do to educate American consumers about the many economic and environmental benefits of renewable fuels.

But overall, these are good numbers for the ethanol industry. No matter how you slice-and-dice the stats, they speak well for ethanol, because it is an American-made, low-carbon liquid fuel that fits neatly within each of these four categories. Even if voters are not as familiar with ethanol as we may like, they see its value—whether they vote as Republicans or as Democrats. READ MORE