Americans back year-round E15 access, record support for RFS
Americans backed year-round E15 by 72 percent and the RFS by 69 percent, while 88 percent said energy independence mattered.
A Sept. 10-12 Morning Consult survey of 1,825 U.S. registered voters for the Renewable Fuels Association found 72 percent backed year-round E15 access. Support for the Renewable Fuel Standard hit 69 percent, the highest level RFA had recorded since quarterly polling began in 2016.
The E15 result also marked a gain from RFA’s December 2024 polling, when 69 percent supported expanding the blend. Two-thirds of voters in the new survey backed the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, which would allow nationwide year-round E15 sales. Just 12 percent opposed the bill and 21 percent had no opinion.
Roughly one-quarter of respondents said they had had the opportunity to buy E15, and 62 percent of that group said they purchased it. Slightly more than half said they had not had the chance to buy the lower-cost blend, while another 23 percent were unsure whether they had ever seen it at the pump.
Eighty-eight percent of respondents said it is important for America to be energy independent, 79 percent said they were very or somewhat concerned about gas price fluctuations, and 74 percent said renewable fuels like ethanol were important to that goal and that fuel being made in America mattered. Sixty-five percent opposed banning vehicles with liquid-fuel engines, 68 percent backed promotion and sale of flex-fuel vehicles, and 58 percent said they were very or somewhat interested in buying an FFV, compared with 39 percent for an electric vehicle.
RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper said, “Americans want more options at the pump.” Cooper said access to ethanol blends like E15 meant greater energy independence and real savings, and that voters were connecting ethanol to the Trump administration’s America First energy strategy.
EPA finalized its RFS “Set 2” rule on March 27 at the White House Great American Agriculture Celebration. The rule set 2026 and 2027 volume requirements at the highest levels in program history and marked the 20th year of the RFS. EPA estimated the rule would lift the value of American corn and soybean oil for biofuel production to $31 billion in 2026, about $2 billion more than in 2025, and would require biodiesel and renewable diesel production and use to rise by more than 60 percent from 2025 volumes. Brooke L. Rollins said the rule should add $3 billion to $4 billion to net farm income.
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