Opinion Dynamics & Policy Consequences of Concern about Climate Change Effects

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

Abstract

Few Americans are highly concerned about climate change. This is problematic, because people who are less concerned tend to be less likely to support policy action on climate-related issues. Previous research, however, has not sufficiently explored the possibility that concern about certain effects of climate change may be more powerful motivators of policy action than others. In this paper, I show that concern about the ways in which climate change might directly impact human life -- but not concerns about more-abstract environmental impacts -- are strongly associated with pro-environmental policy support. Critically, while this finding consistent with theoretical expectations, it is largely at odds with how political and media elites communicate concerns about climate change. I also demonstrate that, despite high levels of partisan polarization on climate-related issues, individual-level concern about climate changes effects is actually quite unstable over time, and may shift in response to widely publicized political controversies.

Author

• Matthew P. Motta, Oklahoma State University