American Voters Believe Energy Incentives Boost American Energy Dominance and National Security

National Survey with Oversamples in Louisiana, North Carolina, Utah and West Virginia

As the Senate considers the “Big Beautiful Bill” passed by the House, Rainey Center sought to understand voter attitudes on how Senators should approach the House’s repeal of many energy incentives. We find that voters believe energy independence is a crucial national security concern and support technology-neutral tax incentives, even after hearing arguments for and against the credits.

Voters are persuaded by arguments that highlight how the technology-neutral tax incentives are lowering electricity bills, creating jobs that don’t require a college degree and driving American energy dominance.

Voters believe companies that have begun construction on their projects should qualify for the tax credits and strongly prefer a phased-out approach to immediately ending the incentives.

Methodology

Rainey Center conducted a survey of 2,529 respondents over web panels from June 3-5, 2025 and weighted the results to be representative of the electorate on education, age, gender, race, and 2024 election results. The margin of error is +/- 2.7. Rainey Center conducted oversamples, surveying 479 respondents in Louisiana, 513 respondents in North Carolina, 430 respondents in Utah and 413 respondents in West Virginia.

Note: “National” refers to the rest of the nation not included in the oversample. For nationally representative results, see “All.”

Key Findings

Data Centers and National Security

Voters believe it is important that the personal data of Americans is not held in Chinese data centers (58% extremely important, 24% very important). Eighty-two percent of Louisiana voters (54% extremely, 28% very), 82% of North Carolina voters (58% extremely, 24% very), 85% of Utah voters (61% extremely, 24% very) and 82% of West Virginia voters (64% extremely, 18% very) view ensuring American data is not on Chinese data centers as an important concern.

On net, 73% of voters agree American data centers should be powered by domestic energy (81% agree, 8% disagree). This includes +67 net agreement in Louisiana, +67 in North Carolina, +82 in Utah and +75 in West Virginia.

On net, 74% of Americans agree that no part of our energy or data center supply chain should rely on China. This includes +74 in Louisiana, +69 in North Carolina, +80 in Utah and +80 in West Virginia.

Technology-Neutral Tax Incentives

Tax incentives for companies manufacturing the United States have overwhelming support from voters, with 72% in support and only 17% opposed. In Louisiana, net support is +58 (74% support, 17% oppose), in North Carolina +58 (74% support, 16% oppose), in Utah +55 (73% support, 18% opposed) and in West Virginia +54 (72% support, 18% opposed).

Tax incentives for companies that manufacture hydrogen have strong support, with 72% in support and 12% opposed (+61). Net support is +64 in Louisiana, +65 in North Carolina, +65 in Utah and +55 in West Virginia.

Tax incentives for companies that produce nuclear energy have robust support, with 68% of voters in support and only 16% opposed (+52). Net support is +45 in Louisiana, +56 in North Carolina, +57 in Utah, +60 in West Virginia.

Voters express strong support for the suite of technology-neutral tax incentives, with 66% in support and only 18% opposed (+48 net). This support is durable in all states tested, +52 in Louisiana, +49 in North Carolina, +56 in Utah and +45 in West Virginia.

Messages that Persuade

Sixty percent of voters find the argument that the technology-neutral tax incentives lower costs while creating jobs that don’t require a college degree persuasive (21% very convincing, 39% somewhat convincing), only 9% said it was not convincing. Sixty-four percent of Utah voters, 60% of North Carolina voters, 62% of Louisiana voters and 57% of West Virginia voters find the argument convincing.

Fifty-five percent of voters find the argument that technology-neutral tax incentives help drive American energy dominance and reduce US reliance on foreign energy sources persuasive (19% very convincing, 36% somewhat convincing). Sixty percent of Utah voters, 54% of North Carolina voters, 53% of Louisiana voters and 56% of West Virginia voters find the argument convincing.

Fifty percent of voters find the argument that technology-neutral tax incentives help the US compete with China persuasive (17% very convincing, 33% somewhat convincing). Only 10% find the message “not at all” convincing. Fifty-one percent of Utah voters, 47% of North Carolina voters, 49% of Louisiana voters and 49% of West Virginia voters find the message persuasive.

Durable Support for Tech-Neutral Incentives

After pro and con messaging, support for technology-neutral incentives remains durable, with 56% support and 31% opposed. Support remained positive in all states, +20 in Louisiana, +32 in North Carolina, +21 in Utah and +20 in West Virginia.

Voters support incentives for companies that have commenced construction at phase-out.

By a ten point margin, voters believe that companies who have begun construction at the time incentives phase out should be eligible to receive the incentives. This is a 9 point margin in Louisiana, a 6 point margin in North Carolina, a 15 point margin in West Virginia and a 17 point margin in Utah. There were high rates of undecided responses on the question, as many voters have not considered the issue.

Conclusion

Voters are concerned about US reliance on China for data center capacity and energy and see technology-neutral tax incentives as a crucial way to bolster American energy dominance.

Voters support the suite of clean energy tax incentives and would prefer to see Senators explore elsewhere, such as SALT, for cuts. Voters in the crucial states of Louisiana, North Carolina, Utah and West Virginia are persuaded by arguments in favor of the credits. If credits are phased out, voters believe that companies that have begun construction should still benefit from the credits.

Energy tax incentives are seen by voters as a crucial national security issue, giving America the energy dominance it needs to compete with China.