The Daily Caller just published an op-ed from Beau Allen, Chairman of Public Affairs and a founding board member of Concord 51, a nationwide issues-based political action committee for young professionals focused on promoting fiscal responsibility, energy advancement and strong national defense.
The piece explores why young Americans support an all-of-the-above energy policy. The piece features data from recent TargetPoint and Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions research:
“It’s time our elected leaders started listing to young Americans and started preparing the country for its long-term energy consumption needs.
There is consensus from the electorate to advance common sense energy policies: Recent polling by Target Point Consulting, the GOP microtargeting firm, found that more than 3 out of 4 voters – an equal mix of Democrats and Republicans – believe that energy policy, specifically the exploration and development of both traditional and renewable energy sources, should be either a very high or somewhat high priority. Perhaps surprisingly, the survey conducted for Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions showed that 40 percent of Republicans thought there should be more emphasis on “diversifying our energy sources to include renewable resources of energy like wind, solar and hydropower,” while only 20 percent said there should be less.
The public clearly wants our elected leaders to move forward with building consensus on energy and climate policies. However, we do not believe it should take the form of heavy-handed government mandates like those the president called for over the summer. Instead we should be encouraging free-market approaches that won’t stifle job creation. The role of government should be to reduce the burdens to innovation – not add to them — and encourage private sector investment in new energy technologies.”
Read the full piece here.