In the abstract, people will support all manner of vague policy proposals. But for many of those same people, what matters most is the obvious follow-up question: Are you willing to pay for it?
The Public Policy Institute of California recently highlighted an example of mismatched responses from a survey of Californians.
“About six in ten adults (62%) and likely voters (60%) favor a state law that requires 100 percent of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2045,” reported the nonpartisan research organization recently.
It’s not too hard to figure out why. Such a law sounds green, it sounds progressive, and in a state like California, such a combination can go very far without much scrutiny.
But then came the follow-up question and suddenly you get a very different impression of where Californians actually stand.
As described by PPIC, “when asked if they would be willing to pay more for electricity generated by renewable sources, such as solar or wind energy, majorities of adults and likely voters say they would not be willing.”
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