It indicates that a majority of Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP voters feel that the government should continue incentivising the technologies.
Overall 65 per cent of people believe that the government is right to spend money encouraging wind energy technology, with 76 per cent agreeing for tidal power. Comparative figures for other technologies are 40 per cent support for incentivisation for shale gas, 57 per cent for shale gas, and 79 per cent for solar.
Support is consistent across the political spectrum with the strongest support from Liberal Democrat voters at 79 per cent for wind and 91 per cent for tidal, but even a majority of UKIP voters call for financial support with 51 per cent for wind, and three quarters of those planning to vote for UKIP asking for government to provide financial support for tidal power.
Jennifer Webber, RenewableUK’s director of external affairs, said: “Poll after poll shows that voters value low carbon technologies such as wind and tidal power. This latest poll shows that there’s not a single age group or voting demographic where a majority of people don’t want financial support for wind. It’s clear that for politicians, whether they’re UKIP, Conservative, Liberal Democrat or Labour that further development of our natural wind and marine resources is the way to go.
“With a recent study from Cardiff University showing that over 80 per cent of people are worried about becoming overly dependent on energy from other countries, it’s important that confidence is retained for domestic low carbon producers. Wind provided enough power for the equivalent of 4.5 million homes last year and needs to play an increasing role in our electricity provision. If we press strongly on, as supporters of all political parties are urging, we can also build on our offshore and marine supply chain to create tens of thousands of jobs over the next decade.”