Americans Embrace the Coal Fleet

Electricity affordability is a top-tier issue and one that is shaping elections. While the impact of AI and data centers is the elephant in the room, voters are increasingly aware of the energy policy decisions that have led to the rise in power prices – up 40 percent since 2020 – and the current efforts to combat electricity price inflation.

According to new national polling conducted by The Harris Poll for the National Mining Association, 57 percent of Americans support keeping coal plants open longer to meet growing energy demands and keep costs lower. Just 20 percent oppose.

Americans increasingly recognize the nation needs more power—that we need more reliable power, and the coal fleet is critical to meeting the challenge.

The Trump administration has embraced coal’s importance and made it a centerpiece of its efforts to sure up the nation’s grid reliability and drive down power prices.

The Department of Energy worked to keep 17 gigawatts of coal power online last year that otherwise would have closed. Those plants came to the rescue this winter and played a critical role in shielding consumers from rising prices. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright even called coal, “the MVP” of Winter Storm Fern. It was also the nation’s affordability MVP last year.

In 2025, U.S. coal generation increased 12 percent to meet rising power demand and offset rising natural gas prices. With the delivered price of natural gas to U.S. power plants up 26 percent last year, lower cost coal helped save U.S. consumers $30-40 billion in increased energy costs according to recent economic analysis. With natural gas prices forecast to increase further this year, the coal fleet will be more important than ever to temper electricity cost increases.

Americans want answers to rising energy prices, and the coal fleet is delivering. Not surprisingly, support for keeping plants running is growing.