Rising oil prices have increased support for nuclear energy to its highest level in a decade of Gallup polling.

Among adults responding to the company’s latest survey, 55% said they “somewhat” or “strongly” support nuclear energy, up 4 percentage points from 51% last year and the highest since 57% said the same in 2012.

Another 44% of respondents said they “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose atomic power, Gallup reported Tuesday.

“Throughout the course of Gallup’s trend, Americans have generally been more amenable to the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity for the U.S. when oil prices have been high and less open to it when oil prices are low,” the polling company said.

Gallup first asked the question in 1994. Support reached a high of 62% in 2010 during a period of high oil and gas prices in the Obama administration, and a low of 44% in 2016 as prices dropped again before the election of President Donald Trump.

This year’s surge in support for nuclear power came as the Biden administration pledged more than $1 billion to keep nuclear power plants open, the company said, noting the president’s use of atomic energy as “a key element to his overall climate strategy of achieving 100% clean electricity in the U.S. by 2035.”

Though nuclear energy has bipartisan support in Congress and Republican voters have consistently backed it since 2001, Gallup noted that “significant opposition remains, including from the president’s own party.”

Two-thirds of men and 63% of college-educated adults responding to this year’s survey expressed support for nuclear energy, compared to 42% of women and 51% of those without an advanced degree.

The poll also found that 62% of Republicans and 56% of independents support using nuclear energy, compared to 46% of Democrats. Support in this year’s poll remained statistically unchanged among Republicans and independents but rose slightly among Democrats after the president promoted nuclear power, Gallup noted.

Gallup conducted a randomized national telephone survey of 1,009 adults from March 1-21. The margin of error for the entire sample group was plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.