Climate Change, Carbon Policies, and Political Trigger Words

• In Event: The Dynamics of Climate Policy Support in the US

Abstract

Climate change has become one of the most polarized issues in current American politics with the opinion divide generally split along party lines. However, despite partisan disagreement on whether climate change is occurring or if humans contribute to warming, recent surveys have shown broad support for climate mitigation schemes. In particular, taxing carbon emissions has been floated as a viable governmental response to climate change by figures and organizations across the political spectrum. While a carbon tax idea has been and can be framed in multiple ways to elicit public support, we have noticed that the phrase “climate change” is conspicuously absent from conservative-based framing. We hypothesize that this communication trend may be a hedge against triggering motivated skepticism responses on the right. In this survey experiment, we will examine how members of the American public process information about a carbon tax in the context of issue polarization on climate change.

Authors

• Emily Kathleen Pechar, Duke University

• Jack Zhou, Climate Advocacy Lab