Not in my postcode? : wind turbines and U.S. presidential approval

The expansion of wind power has the potential to make a major contribution to the mitigation of climate change. While wind power generates positive externalities at the global level by reducing carbon dioxide, it also generates negative externalities at the local level, such as noise pollution from sound emissions. This paper analyses whether sound emissions from wind turbines have an effect on the popularity of the incumbent government. It thereby exploits the exogenous temporal and spatial variation in wind speed as a measure of sound emissions from wind turbines and combines it with high-frequency zip-code-level survey data for the United States. The results demonstrate that sound emissions from wind turbines lead to a decrease in the popularity of the (pro-renewables) President Barack Obama. This effect is temporal, diminishes with distance from wind turbines, and is driven exclusively by individuals identifying as Democrats. Furthermore, individuals who are older, have lower levels of education, or live in rural areas and small towns exhibit a more negative reaction. In order to maintain public support for the energy transition, it is essential that policymakers take these local impacts into account.