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Notes -
A majority of Americans support nuclear power, and the support has been rising while The Simpsons has been on air.
Perhaps, but the Simpsons started not too long after the lowest point of nuclear's public image (Chernobyl), so it's likely the only direction it could take was up from there, and I would think it possible that support for nuclear should have risen higher and faster if it was not for The Simpsons.
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Point taken. Ad hoc epicycle: the proportion of Americans who oppose nuclear energy is directly proportional to The Simpsons's ratings, and both have declined steeply in recent decades. Per your chart, the ratio of Americans who support:oppose nuclear power has been more or less constant since about 2010, shortly after the last time The Simpsons truly defined the zeitgeist (the release of The Simpsons Movie in 2007).
Still, as far as I can see The Simpsons continues to have a formidable chokehold in the American meme culture, probably the single most memetic show ever insofar as Twitter/Facebook, at least, seem to be concerned (of course these would not capture the current youth trends).
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