The Political Moderation of Environmental Risk Skepticism in the United States

• In Event: 046 - Section on Environment and Technology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Risk and Risk Perception

Abstract

This paper studies whether Republicans and white males are significantly more likely to deny environmental risks across a range of income levels. Attitudes toward environmental dangers associated with three issues are tested: climate change, nuclear energy, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Conservative political values drive climate skeptic movements, and research on risk perception has identified the “white male effect” leading some individuals to accept more risk relative to others. The research presented here extends the analysis of environmental skepticism by probing interactions with income. Results indicate that there are significant differences between Republicans and non-Republicans in risk perception for all three issues across most levels of income, with greater values of income increasingly predicting risk skepticism for Republicans. Significant differences were observed between white males and other groups for climate change and nuclear energy risk skepticism, but not for GMOs.

Author

• Jeremiah Bohr, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign