Energy

Trump Voters Support This Green Tech — Assuming It’s Not Chinese

DoD photo by D. Myles Cullen/Released

A majority of right-leaning voters support solar power, especially when developed domestically and without Chinese materials, according to a new poll.

Fabrizio, Lee & Associates polled what it terms a “GOP+” sample, which included a mix of Republicans, Republican-leaning independents and Trump voters from Jan. 19-21. Support for utility-scale solar stood at 51%, soaring to 70% if the panels were American made without any ties to China.

Seventy percent of respondents said that they believe the government should allow all energy resources to compete in the free market without political interference, including utility-scale solar.

Axios first reported the poll’s contents and noted that Tony Fabrizio, a partner at the firm, has been head pollster for President Donald Trump’s campaigns.

“GOP+ voters want America to have energy independence and for their electric bills to be affordable,” Fabrizio, David Lee and Travis Tunis, said in a statement Wednesday. “They understand that utility solar energy is a key aspect in allowing that to happen, especially when the panels for that solar energy can be made right here in the USA without any ties to China.”

The firm polled 800 registered voters, with a margin of error of ±3.46%.

China maintains a near monopoly on rare earth mining and refining, and solar panel inverters use rare earth elements like yttrium. America imports 80% of the rare earths it consumes, mostly from China, which accounts for the vast majority of the world’s rare earth mining and 92% of refining capacity.

Rare earths are a group of 17 metallic elements integral to producing electric vehicles (EVs), weapons systems, wind turbines, smartphones and other advanced technologies. Power inverters connect solar panels and wind turbines to the power grid and are also often produced in China.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection ramped up detentions of electronics, which included components for solar panels, from June to August 2025 over possible Chinese slave labor connections. One May 2025 Reuters report also stated that officials were reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made solar inverters after finding “rogue communication devices” capable of triggering blackouts in them.

While the Trump administration has cracked down on wind projects and championed cutting Biden-era green energy government subsidies, corporate media outlets have advanced the narrative that the Trump administration opposes “renewable” energy.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have consistently argued that solar power is an acceptable resource. However, Wright has noted that there is a vital distinction between electricity and energy, while Burgum and others in the administration have emphasized the need for baseload power.

“Renewables are deployed almost exclusively in the electricity sector, which in total delivers only 20 percent of total primary energy consumption,” Wright said during his confirmation.
“Manufacturing is the largest user of energy globally, mostly in the form of process heat that cannot effectively be supplied via electricity. To make matters worse, aviation, global shipping, long-haul trucking, and mobile mining equipment have no viable replacements in sight.”