Charts: Aurora Solar survey shows no political divide in solar energy interest

By Chris Crowell March 31, 2025

Solar energy is often made into a political issue when it really isn’t — at least among homeowners. Aurora Solar’s third annual Solar Industry Snapshot shows, amid the tumult of 2025, that there is bipartisan support for solar among homeowners and business owners.

“In the face of high interest rates, policy changes, and other economic headwinds, this year’s Solar Snapshot underscores the industry remains strong and adaptable,” said Chris Hopper, CEO and co-founder, Aurora Solar. “We’re seeing bipartisan support for solar among homeowners and business owners, financing models moving towards third-party ownership, and increased appetite for IRA benefits. The solar market is not just resilient–it’s thriving and evolving in response to new opportunities.”

Aurora Solar Solar Snapshot snapshot

Aurora Solar’s Solar Snapshot is drawn from four key data sets: a survey of 500 U.S. business property owners on their solar adoption journey; insights from 1,000 U.S. homeowners on their motivations and behaviors regarding solar; feedback from 1,000+ U.S. residential solar professionals on industry trends; and Aurora’s proprietary system size and pricing data from over 12.5 million solar projects.

Five key charts: Which homeowners want to go solar? And why?

Aurora Solar Industry Snapshot homeowner opinion chart

First off, homeowners increasingly view solar as a smart financial move, with 76% believing it’s a good investment—an impressive increase from just 43% in 2023.

Secondly, each successive generation is showing more and more interest in solar power: 92% of Gen Z and 83% of Millennials consider solar a worthwhile investment, compared to 75% of Gen X and 67% of Baby Boomers.

Thirdly, as the headline of this post indicated, a majority of homeowners believe solar panels are good investment, regardless of which political party they are forced to align with.

Part of the economic argument for solar is tied to the impact of extreme weather, and keeping the lights on when the grid goes down. And yes, a majority of homeowners believe extreme weather and climate change are directly impacting their lives, a significant rise from 41% in 2024. Moreover, 65% of solar installers report a surge in solar interest following natural disasters, underscoring how climate-related events are accelerating the adoption of solar.

The more directly political issue tied to solar power is the tax credit incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Aurora Solar Industry Snapshot respondents who are interested in going solar were interested in taking better advantage of the IRA benefits.

Only 14% of respondents want the IRA to be repealed — signaling broad support across political lines.

Thus, installers who educate customers about IRA benefits have a competitive edge. Homeowners aware of the IRA are twice as likely to say they are actively seeking ways to take advantage of it (60%) compared to those who are unfamiliar with it (30%). The more homeowners understand the IRA, the more likely they are to go solar.

Solar is bipartisan — period

The Aurora Solar Industry Snapshot authors summed up their findings like this: “It can be tempting to draw conclusions about people and their motivations without having data. One overarching finding of this study is that solar transcends political views. … And in large part, people in both major political parties have similar motivations for choosing solar. Democrat, Republican, Independent — everyone likes
saving money and appreciates energy resilience.”

Of those interested in solar in our study, 39% are Republican homeowners and 38% are Democratic homeowners.
47% of Democrats and 55% of Republicans listed utility bill savings as their #1 factor for going solar
Reducing their environmental impact is a bigger driver for Democrats (18% selected it as their No. 1 reason) than for Republicans (9%), but it is clearly not a huge driver for either side.