Climate Change and Public Opinion: Politicization, Attitudes, and Emotions

Abstract

As climate change becomes an increasingly pressing political issue, understanding how citizens perceive, interpret, and respond to it is essential for effective policymaking and democratic governance. This panel brings together five studies that explore the multifaceted relationship between climate change and public opinion across different European contexts. The papers collectively address three interrelated themes. First, they examine how political orientations shape climate attitudes: from how left-right and environmental dimensions influence the attribution of responsibility for climate action among Norwegian voters and politicians, to how ideological polarisation and broader worldviews structure Croatian citizens' perceptions of climate policy. Second, the panel investigates the deeper cognitive and emotional dimensions of climate politics, exploring how Italian citizens construct meaning around climate change beyond surface-level attitudes, how climate emotions relate to preferences for different modes of governance among Belgian citizens, and the conditions under which UK residents may become susceptible to ecofascist framings of environmental crisis. Third, the papers highlight how national contexts—including economic structures, policy salience, and cultural cleavages—mediate the politicisation of climate change across Europe. By combining quantitative surveys, survey experiments, and qualitative focus group research, this panel offers a comprehensive and comparative perspective on climate change public opinion. Together, the papers seek to shed light not only on what citizens think about climate change, but how they think about it—and the political implications of these varied orientations for mobilisation, polarisation, and democratic responses to the climate crisis.

Title	Details
From Climate Crisis to Fascism? An Empirical Examination of Ecofascism in the UK	View Paper Details
How Politicians and Voters Attribute Responsibility for Climate Change Mitigation: the Role of the Left-Right and Environmental Dimensions.	View Paper Details
What Does Climate Change Mean to Italians? A Focus Group Study in Italy	View Paper Details
How We Feel About Climate Change and Why it Matters for Democracy: an Empirical Investigation of Democratic Preferences and Climate-Emotions	View Paper Details
Ideology, Costs and Trust; Citizens Views on Climate Change and Climate Action in Croatia	View Paper Details