Voters are Split on Energy Production, According to FDU Poll – Insider NJ

Electrical rate hikes and warnings of potential shortages have highlighted the need for New Jersey to generate more electricity. Coupled with ambitious plans for data centers and technologies like electric cars and electric heat pumps, the state needs to get more electricity from somewhere. According to the latest results from the FDU Poll, in cooperation with the Fuel Merchants Association of New Jersey, voters are about evenly split between preferring more natural gas plants and more nuclear energy, with other options like importing electricity from other states proving less popular.

The survey had questions asking about the need for more electrical generation in multiple contexts. Respondents were asked separately about energy production in the context of economic development, support for climate friendly technologies, and the need to replace aging nuclear power plants. While responses differed across these contexts, there are some clear conclusions about how voters think New Jersey should be producing electricity.

“There are no easy choices here for most voters,” said Dan Cassino, a Professor of Government and Politics at FDU, and the executive director of the Poll. “Every potential source of electricity has real trade-offs, especially with offshore wind off the table for the time being.”

Across the three contexts, support for nuclear power is stable, at about 1/3^rd of voters. Similarly, support for building more natural gas production is stable at about 1/3^rd of voters. When waiting to build up green energy production like offshore wind farms is an option, it’s similarly popular; when it’s not, many respondents say that they don’t know what the state should do. Options like importing electricity from other states – mostly produced by natural gas or coal – and simply not making investments in technology that would require more electricity prove to be unpopular.

“As electricity costs are spiking in New Jersey, state residents are overwhelmingly against importing power that includes coal energy and prefer nuclear or natural gas as options since wind is clearly not an option anymore,” said Eric DeGesero, Executive Vice President of the Fuel Merchants Association of NJ.

The support for nuclear power is most concentrated among young voters, with 46 percent of voters 30 and under saying that they would support building more nuclear plants to replace the aging plants that provide almost half of current energy production in the state. Older voters are much more likely to support building more natural gas plants. For instance, when asked about the need to generate electricity for data centers and other economic development proposed by Governor Murphy, 44 percent of voters 30 and under say that the state should build more nuclear plants, with 22 percent supporting more natural gas plants. Among voters 65 and over, this is almost reversed, with 24 percent supporting more nuclear, and 37 percent supporting more natural gas.

“A lot of the opposition to nuclear power comes from people who remember Chernobyl or Three Mile Island,” said Cassino. “Voters who don’t remember nuclear disasters and are more concerned about climate change don’t see any problems with having more nuclear in the mix.”

Support for building more natural gas plants is about equal to support for more nuclear energy but driven by political views as well as age. Republicans and MAGA voters are generally more supportive of building more natural gas plants, while Democrats and liberal voters are less supportive. When asked about the need for more electricity in order to support technologies seen as environmentally friendly, like electric cars and electric heat pumps, 51 percent of Democrats say that the state should wait to build green energy plants with only 16 percent say that we should build more natural gas plants. In contrast, 53 percent of Republicans say that the state should invest in natural gas, with only 10 percent saying that we should wait for green energy.

“Older voters especially are hesitant about nuclear energy, and see natural gas as a safer alternative,” said Cassino.

While voters are about evenly split between support for natural gas, green energy and nuclear energy, some options are decidedly less popular. When importing electricity from other states is given as an option in the context of replacing nuclear energy plants, only 12 percent of voters say that it’s a good idea, without any significant partisan or age gap.

“The poll is clear New Jersey residents want to limit price spikes and ensure a sufficient energy supply now, so we can’t depend on a delay and pray ‘plan’ for expanding nuclear capacity as that’s best case a decade away.  We need to flip the switch on natural gas plants today,” said DeGesero.

In the context of economic development and needing electricity to power data centers and other businesses that could bring new jobs to the state, voters are essentially split between the use of nuclear energy (35 percent) and natural gas (29 percent), with another 19 percent saying that the state should just forego such development. When the question instead asks about the need to power consumer technology perceived as environmentally friendly, 30 percent of respondents say that the state should just wait until green energy options can be brought online, no different than support for nuclear energy (29 percent) or natural gas plants (32 percent).

“People want all of these new technologies, but there’s just no agreement on how to power them,” said Cassino. “Whichever direction the state goes is guaranteed to upset someone.”

Today, about 40 percent of the electricity generated in New Jersey comes from aging nuclear plants, which the state has been subsidizing. Despite perceptions that nuclear energy is unpopular, replacing these plants with more nuclear power is just as popular (35 percent support) as replacing them with more natural gas plants (35 percent).

“The Murphy administration has been holding out for offshore wind to get the electricity we need,” said Cassino. “Right now, though, it just doesn’t look like that’s happening any time soon, so the choice is between nuclear, natural gas and just importing the energy and hoping that it’s relatively clean.”

Methodology

The survey was conducted between February 23 and 28, 2025, using a voter list of registered voters in New Jersey carried out by Braun Research of Princeton, New Jersey. Respondents were contacted via either live caller telephone interviews, or text-to-web surveys sent to cellular phones, resulting in an overall sample of 1,476 registered voters in the state, including an oversample of Newark residents who were randomly assigned to some, but not all, of the sections in the main survey. The data presented in this release contains approximately 240 respondents from this oversample. Surveys were carried out via live caller telephone interviews to landlines (191) and cellphones (319) and the remainder (966) were done on a web platform via weblinks sent via SMS to cell phones. Surveys were conducted only in English.

The data were weighted to be representative of the population of registered voters in New Jersey. The weights used, like all weights, balance the demographic characteristics of the sample to match known population parameters. The weighted results used here are balanced to match parameters for sex, age, education and race/ethnicity. This weighting process means that the oversample of Newark resident, carried out in conjunction with a simultaneous poll of Newark residents, does not skew the results of the poll towards any particular group, and the results are not substantively different if this oversample is not included in the results.

SPSSINC RAKE, an SPSS extension module that simultaneously balances the distributions of all variables using the GENLOG procedure, was used to produce final weights. Weights were trimmed to prevent individual interviews from having too much influence on the final results. The use of these weights in statistical analysis helps to ensure that the demographic characteristics of the sample approximate the demographic characteristics of the target population. The size of these weights is used to construct the measure of design effects, which indicate the extent to which the reported results are being driven by the weights applied to the data, rather than found in the data itself. Simply put, these design effects tell us how many additional respondents would have been needed to get the weighted number of respondents across weighted categories: larger design effects indicate greater levels of under-representation in the data. In this case, calculated design effects are approximately 1.3, largely driven by the weights used on the race/ethnicity variable.

All surveys are subject to sampling error, which is the expected probable difference between interviewing everyone in a population versus a scientific sampling drawn from that population. Sampling error should be adjusted to recognize the effect of weighting the data to better match the population. In this poll, the simple sampling error for 1,476 registered voters is +/-2.9 percentage points, at a 95 percent confidence interval. Including the design effects, the margin of error would be +/-3.8 percentage points, though the figure not including them is much more commonly reported.

This error calculation does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question wording, differences in translated forms, or context effects. While such errors are known to exist, they are often unquantifiable within a particular survey, and all efforts, such as randomization and extensive pre-testing of items, have been used to minimize them.

The FDU Poll frequently works with governmental and interest groups on poll questions like this one. In such cases, the wording of questions is controlled by the Poll, rather than the client, and both the question wording and results are handled by the Poll exactly as they would be for any other question. Clients can choose to withhold data and findings from public release, but any findings that are released are treated in the same way as findings from any other questions. The FDU Poll does not accept work from political parties or candidates for public office.

The FDU Poll is a proud member of the AAPOR Transparency Initiative and is devoted to ensuring that our results are presented in such a way that anyone can quickly and easily get all of the information that they may need to evaluate the validity of our surveys. We believe that transparency is the key to building trust in the work of high-quality public opinion research, and necessary to push our industry forward.

Weighted Telephone Sample Characteristics

1,476 Registered Voters in New Jersey

Figures do not include individuals who declined to answer demographic items.

 

Man

47%                 N = 698

Woman

51%                 N = 754

Some Other Way

0.4%               N = 4

18-30

17%                N = 251

31-44

23%                 N = 336

45-64

36%                 N = 534

65+

24%                 N = 347

White

67%                N = 987

Black

13%                N = 190

Hispanic/Latino/a

12%                N = 173

Asian

3%                  N = 42

Other/Multi-racial

3%                  N = 44

No college degree

54%                N = 790

College degree or more

44%                N = 645

Democrat (including leaners)

39%                N = 576

Independent (no lean)

13%                N = 186

Republican (including leaners)

29%                N = 430

 

Question Wording and Order

NJ1. One bill would ban students from having cell phones in all public schools. Students would have to leave the phones at home, or lock them up before coming into school. What do you think? Should the state ban students from having cell phones in public schools?

1. Yes, should ban cell phones
2. No, should not ban cell phones
3. Don’t Know [Vol]
4. Refused [Vol]

NJ2. There is also concern about the number of ads for sports betting and other kinds of gambling in New Jersey, especially when those ads are seen by children. Would you support or oppose limits on where and when ads for betting and gambling could be shown in New Jersey?

1. Support limits on ads
2. Oppose limits on ads
3. Don’t Know [Vol]
4. Refused [Vol]

[Intervening questions held for later release]

Now, we’d like to ask you a few questions about the upcoming Gubernatorial Election

D1. In politics today, do you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or something else?

1. Democrat
2. Republican
3. Independent  [ASK D1A]
4. Something Else/Other
5. DK/Ref [vol]

D1A. [Ask only if D1 is 3] Which way do you lean?

1. Democrat
2. Republican
3. Independent
4. Something Else/Other
5. DK/Ref [vol]

[Respondents only asked about candidates in their party; non-leaning independents excluded from candidate questions]

In June, both Republicans and Democrats will be having primary elections to pick their candidates for governor. I’m going to [read/show] you a list of potential candidates in this year’s race for Governor of New Jersey. For each, just tell me if you’ve heard of them or not, and, if you have heard of them, whether you have a favorable or unfavorable view of them.

[Order of Names  Randomized

D1. Democratic Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop

D2. Democratic Member of Congress Mikie Sherrill

D3. Democratic Member of Congress Josh Gottheimer

D4. Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka

D5. Democratic Former State Senator Steve Sweeney

D6. Democratic Former Mayor of Montclair/ President of the NJEA Sean Spiller [Randomize how this candidate is presented: half get Montclair Mayor, half get NJEA president]

R1. Republican Talk Show Host Bill Spadea

R2. Republican State Senator Jon Bramnick

R3. Republican Former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli

R4. Republican Former State Senator Ed Durr

1. Haven’t Heard of Them
2. Favorable Opinion
3. Unfavorable Opinion
4. Heard of Them, No Opinion
5. Don’t Know [Vol]
6. Refused [Vol]

[Intervening questions held for later release]

New Jersey is facing some tough choices about how we produce electricity, with prices rising, and warnings of expected shortages.

E1. The governor has announced plans to build New Jersey’s economy by attracting data centers for cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence models to New Jersey. Along with more electric cars and energy efficient homes, these efforts will require New Jersey to generate more electricity in coming years. Efforts to build more green energy plants have stalled, and the state has already faced service disruptions, so we have some tough choices to make. What do you think we should do? Should we…

1. Make greater use of nuclear energy plants?
2. Build more natural gas power plants?
3. Not make investments that would require us to generate more electricity?
4. [Vol] Don’t Know
5. [Vol] Refused

E2. Widespread adoption of some technology seen as more environmentally friendly, like electric cars and residential heat pumps, will require more electricity than New Jersey can currently provide. If you had to choose, what kind of power plants should New Jersey focus on building?

1. Green energy plants, which may be more expensive than other options and won’t be available for at least a few years.
2. Natural gas plants, which are cheaper than other options, but raise concerns about climate change.
3. Nuclear plants, which don’t contribute to climate change, but make some people nervous.
4. [Vol] Don’t Know
5. [Vol] Refused

E3. Right now, about half of the electricity in New Jersey comes from natural gas plants. Forty percent of the electricity generated in New Jersey comes from aging nuclear power plants. The state pays to keep these plants running, but if they have to be shut down before options like offshore wind energy come online, what should we do? Should we…

1. Build new nuclear plants to replace them?
2. Replace them with more natural gas plants?
3. Import more electricity generated by coal and natural gas from other states?
4. [Vol] Don’t Know
5. [Vol] Refused

Just a few more questions, for statistical purposes

D1B. Which of the following terms would you use to describe your political views? You can choose as many as you like. [Shuffle Order]

1. Liberal
2. Moderate
3. Conservative
4. Socialist
5. Progressive
6. Libertarian
7. Make America Great Again or MAGA
8. Nationalist

D2A. To ensure we are reaching people of all ages, would you please tell me your age?

____    (ENTER AGE: 98=98+, 99 = REFUSED)

[IF Don’t Know/REFUSED IN QD1, ASK:]

D2B.  Would you be willing to tell us whether it’s between…?

1. Under 30
2. 31 to 44
3. 45 to 64
4. 65 or over
5. [Refused]

D3. What was the last grade in school you completed? [CODE TO LIST]

1. Did not complete High School
2. High School Diploma or equivalent
3. Vocational or Trade School
4. Some college, but no degree
5. Associates, or other 2 year degree
6. Bachelor’s Degree
7. Graduate work, such as Law, MBA, Medical School, or similar
8. Refused (VOL)

D4. How would you describe your sex? Do you describe yourself as …

1. A Man
2. A Woman
3. Some other way
4. [DK/REF]

D5. How would you describe your racial and ethnic background? You can pick as many as you’d like.

1. White
2. Black
3. Asian
4. Hispanic/Latino/a/Spanish
5. Other or Multi-Racial
6. [Dk/Ref]

Release Tables

The release tables can be found on the web at: https://www.fdu.edu/news/voters-divided-over-energy-production/

A recent poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University has revealed that voters in New Jersey are divided on the issue of energy production. The poll, which surveyed over 1,000 registered voters in the state, found that opinions are split on whether the focus should be on traditional sources of energy like oil and gas, or on renewable sources like solar and wind.

According to the poll, 45% of voters believe that the state should prioritize traditional sources of energy, while 42% believe that the focus should be on renewable sources. The remaining 13% were undecided or had no opinion on the matter.

These results highlight the ongoing debate surrounding energy production in New Jersey, as the state continues to grapple with issues such as climate change and energy independence. Supporters of traditional energy sources argue that they are reliable and cost-effective, while proponents of renewable energy point to the environmental benefits and long-term sustainability of sources like solar and wind.

The poll also found that opinions on energy production are divided along party lines, with Democrats more likely to support renewable energy and Republicans more likely to support traditional sources. Independents were evenly split on the issue.

Overall, the poll suggests that there is no clear consensus among New Jersey voters when it comes to energy production. As the state continues to explore ways to meet its energy needs while also addressing environmental concerns, it will be important for policymakers to consider the diverse opinions of voters on this important issue.