New CSA National Survey Finds Support Across Every Generation And In Nine Energy-Producing States; Opposition Under 10 Percent. Oil And Gas Ranked The Country’s Most Important Resource For Growth And Security
Two-thirds of Americans agree it is time for common-sense permitting reform so the nation’s energy infrastructure can keep pace with rising electricity demand and bring energy costs down, according to a new national survey commissioned by the Council for a Secure America (CSA). Sixty-seven percent agree with that statement, 33 percent of them strongly. Seven percent disagree.
LINK TO FULL SURVEY HERE.
The finding lands as Congress weighs changes to the federal review process for pipelines, transmission lines, export terminals and generation, and as utilities and grid operators report load growth from data centers, manufacturing and electrification.
Support for reform is broad and it deepens with age:
- Gen Z: 57 percent agree, 12 percent disagree
- Millennials: 62 percent agree, 6 percent disagree
- Gen X: 68 percent agree, 6 percent disagree
- Baby Boomers: 79 percent agree, 3 percent disagree
In the nine energy-producing states CSA follows most closely (Iowa, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming), 68 percent agree and 5 percent disagree.
“The public is ahead of Washington on this,” said Jennifer Sutton, Executive Director of the Council for a Secure America. “People see the demand coming, they see what it costs to wait years for a permit, and they want the process fixed. This is not a partisan number. It is two out of three Americans, and those numbers also represent eight in ten of the voters who show up most reliably.”
The survey also asked respondents which resources matter most to America’s economic growth and national security. Oil and natural gas led at 46 percent, followed by fresh water at 41 percent, agricultural land and food production at 37 percent, renewable energy at 34 percent, nuclear fuel and uranium at 13 percent and critical minerals and rare earths at 12 percent. In CSA’s nine states, oil and gas also led at 46 percent.
Majorities connect domestic production directly to security and the economy. Fifty-three percent agree that energy independence makes the country safer because it no longer relies on foreign suppliers for oil and natural gas; 57 percent agree it strengthens the economy by creating high-paying jobs, shielding consumers from foreign price spikes and keeping American dollars at home. Among men, those figures are 61 and 62 percent.
“Energy independence is the foundation CSA was built on, and Americans understand why it matters,” Sutton said. “But independence is not permanent. It has to be built and rebuilt, and right now the permitting system is the bottleneck. Fix that, and the rest follows.”
The survey was conducted online Sept. 25–27, 2026, among a national sample of 2,200 U.S. adults, weighted by gender, education, age, race and region. The margin of sampling error is ±2.1 percentage points. CSA has fielded the survey using the same methodology since September 2024.
About the Council for a Secure America
The Council for a Secure America (CSA) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that educates on the nexus of U.S. energy security, national security and diplomacy. CSA focuses on how American energy strength advances key U.S. foreign policy priorities, including the U.S.–Israel relationship, the Abraham Accords and global stability.