Climate, Politics and Emotions: Evidence from Turkey in a Comparative Perspective

As a multi-dimensional socio-political issue, climate change has risen to the top of the political agenda over the last few decades. Accordingly, studies on public perceptions of climate change became crucial for providing academic information on the subject and developing accurate and effective policies. Although that is the case, such studies usually focus on developed countries or consolidated democracies, where the determinants of perceptions and evoked emotions related to climate change may differ from other countries with low levels of economic development and unconsolidated democracies like Turkey. Aiming to fulfil this gap, this study will utilise the existing European Social Survey Wave 10 data, combined with a new face-to-face country representative survey data on climate perceptions and emotions in Turkey, which was fielded during April 2023. Accordingly, by employing several models, this study comparatively tests the link between climate change, emotions and political attitudes, including news consumption, ideological positions, religiosity levels and political interest. Findings show that regardless of countries' development levels there are significant differences among different religious denominations and religiosity levels regarding to climate anxiety.