The Politics of Climate Change: The Impact of Structural Shifts on Climate Change Policy

• In Event: 3451 - Governance and Climate Policy

Abstract

What drives legislators’ behavior in contested political arenas in the aftermath of congressional compositional shifts? This study examines the legislators’ behavior in the climate change policy arena after one such shift on two dimensions: policy design and voting. Infused with Tea Party politics and a weakened Democratic front, the 112th House of Representatives amped up the battle for climate change-related policy. Results from OLS and logistic mixed effects regression analyses of new data containing 70 policy proposals and over 30 thousand roll call votes show that the balance of policy activity was heavily skewed towards catering to the tenets of the Tea Party and the conservative movement. The legislators’ Tea Party Caucus membership and commitment to the “No Climate Tax” pledge proved to be an important driving force for their policy-related behavior. Public sympathy for the Tea Party in the legislators’ district served as additional driver on both dimensions, while grassroots Tea Party activism in the legislators’ district did not influence policy activities but influenced the voting process.

Author

• Loredana Loy, Cornell University