Elite Cueing, Gender, and the Partisan Gap in Environmental Support

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study extends research on how political and social contexts mediate the relationship between men’s and women’s political identities and their support for the environment. Our test consists of a 3 × 2 factorial survey experiment that interacts an individual’s partisan identity with three conditions modeling elite support for federal spending to protect the environment. Democrats demonstrate consistently high rates of support regardless of legislative sponsorship. Among Republicans, when Democratic legislators sponsor environmental legislation, support drops about 18% compared to conditions where a bipartisan group sponsors legislation. Support among Republican women, however, remains relatively stable across experimental conditions. Republican variations in support are almost entirely attributable to declines in support among Republican men, whose support drops an average of 24% when Democratic legislators sponsor legislation. In conclusion, intraparty gender differences in opinions and support should be considered more broadly, especially when examining polarized public issues.