Clean energy: the other landslide winner

Aside from Barack Obama, there was another landslide winner in last Tuesday's election: clean energy:

A majority of U.S. voters in a post-election survey indicated they agreed clean energy initiatives were important to helping the economy, researchers said.

In a Zogby International post-election poll, 96 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of independent voters and 58 percent of Republicans indicated their belief that clean energy is important to giving the nation's economy a lift. Eighty-seven percent of voters age 18-24 indicated they agreed with concept.

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"Support for action on global warming, already strong in the 2006 election, was even stronger in 2008, particularly among young voters that are the future electorate," President and Chief Executive Officer John Zogby said.

That last tidbit about young voters is important for this reason: Sixty-six percent of voters 18-29 voted for Obama. This is the cohort that will make up the bulk of voters for the foreseeable future -- and they care deeply about climate change.

It should be clear by now that clean energy enjoys support across the political spectrum. The American people are ready to leave behind the dirty fossil-fuel economy, create millions of green jobs and solve climate change once and for all. President-elect Obama and the new Congress would do well to keep these numbers in mind next year as they craft a plan to rescue our economy.