Clustering energy support beliefs to reveal unique sub-populations using self-organizing maps.

Americans' support for energy sources is quite complex and dependent on a range of socio-demographic characteristics. In a novel approach to investigate energy opinions on renewables and fossil fuels, self-organizing maps are employed to cluster individuals solely on their energy beliefs using social survey data collected from Pew Research in the Spring of 2021. These energy preference clusters are then used in regression models to examine attitudes regarding energy policy in the United States.