The Clean Air Act of 1970 passed the United States Congress with a single dissenting vote. Almost fifty years later, the two parties have moved in diametrically opposite directions. The parties are most starkly divided on the causes of and proper policy response to climate change. This elite polarization has translated into similarly stark divides among the mass public. Thirty years ago more than two-thirds of Democrats and Republicans agreed that combatting global warming required immediate government action. By 2010, almost 75% of Democrats still supported urgent government action to combat climate change versus just over a third of Republicans. This significant split in public opinion is an important factor hindering effective policy responses at the national level. Our research contributes to existing work on Americans’ environmental attitudes in two ways. First, we examine the relative partisan polarization of attitudes toward global warming versus other environmental challenges. We find that while Democrats consistently give greater priority to a full range of environmental problems than do Republicans, on most issues the partisan divide is far smaller than for climate change. Second we explore the possibility that linking other environmental issues to climate change can polarize public opinion along partisan lines. By embedding an experiment on a nationally representative survey, we examine whether invoking climate change as a justification for the expanded use of water recycling technologies – an issue where the baseline partisan gap is modest – polarizes public opinion along partisan lines.

Climate Change – A “third rail” of american politics?

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.