UC Irvine

Partisan bias in media, together with psychological biases, sets the stage for and perpetuates polarization around climate change in America. Passing and implementing a successful national climate action plan necessitates bridging the gap between Republicans and Democrats on this topic. I present two complementary studies investigating potential messaging interventions that leverage positive affect and novelty to overcome negative snap judgments of climate policy. First, a content analysis of conservative media coverage of climate change and climate policy indicated that negatively framed content is more common and that connections are rarely made between health and climate topics- indicating potential novelty for both positive valence and health frames. Informed by this, I investigated the effects of a climate message’s valence (positive, neutral, negative) and emphasis frames (health, energy, climate) on measures of Republican support in an experimental survey. Results indicate that neither positive framing, health framing, nor their interaction increase support as expected based on their novelty and association with positive affect. However, analyses identified trust as a crucial model component. Against the backdrop of declining trust in science at the societal level, I discuss the implications of trust’s crucial role in climate policy decisions.