The Dynamics of Public Opinion About Nuclear Energy

The proposed poster will present an overview of key results from three waves of a probability based survey of Americans on the subject of nuclear energy. While scientists’ dominant view continues to suggest that science literacy should be the key goal of efforts to better communicate science, the results speak to the limited role of attention to science information as a predictor of support for policies such as nuclear energy development. The results instead point to the role that views about decision-makers – alongside issue specific risk and benefit judgments – plays in the dynamics of science-oriented public opinion. Such results are needed because they emphasize the need for those involved in science decision-making to actively manage the perceptions of the people involved, not just the science. The initial survey (n=553) was conducted in spring 2010 just prior to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill while a follow-up survey was conducted with the same participants during the summer after the spill (n=425). A third wave of data was then collected in mid-2011 following the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident. This third wave included both previous panel members (n=321) as well as new respondents (n=606). The overall data suggest a relatively limited impact of the initial oil spill but a more significant impact of the Japanese accident. As expected, however, the dominant predictors of support for nuclear energy were risk and benefit perceptions and views about both government and private-sector decision-makers. There are also interesting patterns beyond the overall trends that deserve consideration and are made possible by the panel design. For example, analysis of the pre- and post-oil spill waves of data suggested that the impact of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy was uneven. The spill appeared to have no impact on those who paid little attention to the news while those who paid attention seemed to experience one of two types of changes. Those who paid attention to the spill coverage and who scored high on a standard environmentalism scale appeared to become less supportive of nuclear energy while those who paid attention but had a low score on the environmentalism scale became more supportive. Overall, the data is unique in having both a panel design and in being one of the few recent academic surveys of public opinion about nuclear energy. The data was collected by Knowledge Networks using a probability based online panel that allows generalizations to the overall adult population.