Political Polarization and Public Acceptance of Climate Change Policy. The Importance of Political Culture and Party System Characteristics

The effects of political polarization have been found to be of significant importance for public attitudes on climate change, e.g. affecting risk perceptions and belief in climate science. Studies of the effects of polarization are though largely limited to a few cases, notably the U.S., and it is therefore still unclear what effects political polarization has in other political settings. Political system characteristics such as: 1) the degree and type of political conflict, 2) the type of party system, and 3) previous domestic experience with climate policy, could e.g. be expected to alter the importance of political polarization. This article investigates how the relationship between political polarization and public support for climate policy changes in different political settings. It does so by reporting the results from simultaneously administered expert and public surveys in Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia.