Emphasizing Urgency of Climate Change No Silver Bullet to Increase Policy Support

Abstract

While many people are concerned about climate change, active public support for ambitious policy action is still lagging behind. How can this gap be closed? Recent work has theorized that perceived urgency of climate change drives public support for climate policy, but we lack empirical evidence. Using advanced sparse regressions and comparative survey-embedded framing experiments with 9’911 eligible voters in Germany and the US, we study the role of perceived urgency empirically. Our study entails two findings: First, although perceived urgency is key in driving policy support for ‘low-cost’ climate change mitigation, it does not lead to more support for policy measures that make the behavioral implications and costs of mitigation visible. Second, simple temporal reframing does not increase feelings of dread and policy support. The results are particularly relevant for democracies, where ambitious climate policies require the support of citizens. We call for further inter- and transdisciplinary research on the effects of perceived urgency, especially in contexts where citizens can credibly match temporal frames with their perceived personal experiences and emotions.