Swiss survey shows majority want new nuclear power plants

New survey shows majority in favor of building new nuclear power plants Keystone-SDA

More than half the Swiss population supports the government's plan to lift a ban on the construction of new nuclear power plants.

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This is the result of a new survey commissioned by 20 Minuten and Tamedia and reported by the SonntagsZeitung. The Federal Council reignited the debate on nuclear power plants at the end of August with its plan to lift the ban on new builds, after this had been approved by 58% of the electorate in 2027.

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In the survey conducted from September 19 to 22, 43% of all participants stated that they opposed the construction of new nuclear power plants. No information was provided by 4%. This was a turnaround compared to a survey conducted from September 6 to 10, in which 51% were against new nuclear power plants.

The latest survey reveals a gender gap: only 44% of women are in favor of the change of course compared to 63% of men.

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In addition to the gender divide, the survey published on Sunday revealed the familiar right-left divide on nuclear energy. The Greens rejected the lifting of the ban on new builds with 81%, compared to 73% for the Social Democrats and 59% for the Green Liberals.

Political divide

Centre Party supporters tipped into the Yes camp with 52%. Party president Gerhard Pfister had criticised the Federal Council’s decision. The national government apparently did not want to accept the 2017 referendum.

Swiss People’s Party supporters backed the lifting of the ban with 82% and Radical Party voters with 77%.

The online survey was conducted from September 19 to 22, 2024 by the Leewas Institute on behalf of 20 Minuten and Tamedia. Some 19,552 people from German-speaking Switzerland, French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino took part. The sample error range is ±1.7 percentage points.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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