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.
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.
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
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
Swiss NGOs abroad to receive 10% less federal funding
This content was published on
In 2025 and 2026, Swiss NGOs will have 10% less federal funding available for international cooperation than in the previous two-year period.
Swiss parties spent less than CHF1 million on February green vote
This content was published on
Swiss political parties spent CHF 700,000 ($840,000) on campaigns in the run-up to the overwhelmingly defeated vote on February 9, according to the Swiss Federal Audit Office.
This content was published on
Swisswool, the largest Swiss wool processor, is not accepting any wool for the first time this spring. For many sheep farmers, the only option is to get rid of the wool.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.