The poll was taken among 20,790 residents of nations from the United States and Russia to Azerbaijan, Great Britain and Turkey. Regardless of what region of the world respondents lived in, support was strong for government policies placing a greater emphasis on renewable fuels, as well as for paying slightly more if necessary to implement these new power sources.
Steven Kull of WorldPublicOpinion.org, which conducted the poll, called it "quite remarkable" that there was such consistent global support for renewable energy. "Equally remarkable is how little the governments around the world are following the public's lead," he added.
Support for cleaner energy did tend to wane somewhat in nations that rely heavily on oil revenues. For example, only 50 percent of Russians supported greater government efforts to generate solar and wind energy, compared to 89 percent in South Korea and 87 percent in the United States.
Russia and Azerbaijan, another oil economy, also showed the lowest support for requiring utilities to use more energy, even if it brought slight cost increases. In contrast 66 percent of Americans supported this idea.
