Clean Energy Program | Memo
Get America Running on Clean Energy: Findings from National Focus Groups
SUMMARY
Based on 12 recent focus groups with swing voters conducted, we found that swing voters want change in the way their energy is generated and produced and are looking to progressives to offer that change. The report also offers a number of significant strategic shifts in the way that reform proponents are framing the issue of energy reform.
A set of 12 focus groups with swing voters in six states, conducted by Third Way and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, finds that the public is hungry for dramatic change in American energy policy. They believe that moving to clean energy will help our economy—and that while change could be difficult, we should act now regardless of the recession. Yet our research also finds plenty of evidence that this issue is fraught with challenges. Americans are not yet engaged in the issue and are worried about cost. And the public is often confused with the language used in the clean energy debate. This memo describes how to most effectively tell a positive and resonant story about how energy reform will benefit the economy, the country and individual Americans. And it outlines strategies to effectively counter the concerns that reform opponents will exploit as progressives move to enact bold energy policies.
