Six in ten support nuclear: poll

A significant majority of voters now support the concept of nuclear power in Australia – but there are some surprising details about who’s in favour, and who’s not.

More than six in 10 Australians now support the principle of nuclear as part of the nation’s future energy mix, including a majority of Labor voters, new polling shows.

The Lowy Institute poll, released on Monday, asked more than 2000 Australian voters if they “support or oppose Australia using nuclear power to generate electricity, alongside other sources of energy”.

More than one in four respondents (27 per cent) said they “strongly support” nuclear energy and a further 34 per cent said they “somewhat” support it, leading to an overall approval figure of 61 per cent.

Slightly more than one in three (37 per cent) were against nuclear, 20 per cent “strongly” and 17 per cent “somewhat”.

Nuclear power is currently banned by law in Australia – but the Coalition says it will overturn that ban if it comes to power.

The results come amid a polarised political debate, with the Coalition making nuclear a central plank of their energy and net zero policies, and the Albanese government declaring it too expensive.

Lowy Institute polling director Ryan Neelam said support for nuclear was roughly the same across the larger states, as well as urban and rural locations, while there was no strong correlation for support by age group.

Support was strong among voters who lean towards the Coalition (82 per cent approving), although a small majority of respondents who lean towards the ALP (52 per cent) were also in favour.

Support for nuclear had a strong gender split, with 72 per cent of males in favour, compared to 51 per cent of females.

The results were markedly different from the last time the Lowy Institute polled Australians on the nuclear question. In 2022, respondents were asked whether they supported overturning the longstanding legislative ban on nuclear energy; a small majority (52 per cent) said they were in favour.

Mr Neelam said the 2024 poll results were a complete contrast to the Institute’s 2011 poll, in which six in ten Australians said they opposed nuclear power.

Associate Professor Paul Williams, an Australian politics expert at Griffith University, said the Coalition’s nuclear power policy would appeal to “rusted on” LNP supporters, but whether it was a “vote switcher” for others at the next federal election remained to be seen.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s promise to name potential sites for reactors also ran the risk of sparking backlash in those electorates, he said.

Ryan Neelam, director of the Lowy Institute Poll. Picture Supplied

Griffith University’s senior lecturer in politics, Associate Professor Paul Williams.

And the differing levels of support for nuclear from men and women was symptomatic of the “growing gender gap in policies in this country,” Assoc Prof Williams said.

“There’s a big gender gap in support for Peter Dutton, as there was for Scott Morrison, as there was for Tony Abbott,” he said.

The Opposition’s spokesman for Climate Change and Energy, Ted O’Brien, said nuclear energy was “the only viable like-for-like replacement for coal when it retires from our system”.

Opposition Minister for Climate Change and Energy Ted O'Brien.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“The more Australians learn about how zero-emissions nuclear energy delivers cheap, clean and consistent 24/7 power, the more they want the clean energy source part of our future energy mix,” he said.

The Coalition’s energy plan will include “a balanced mix of technologies, including zero-emissions nuclear,” Mr O’Brien said.

A spokesperson for Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said Mr Dutton should “be transparent and tell people where they plan to put risky reactors and how much it’s going to cost taxpayers in subsidies”.

“All the independent verified evidence shows nuclear power is not the right solution for Australia, it would be too slow and too expensive and exposes households and businesses

to unnecessary risk of blackouts over the next 15 years,” the spokesperson said.

Originally published as Six in ten support nuclear: poll