Popular Support for Climate Policies Across Political Divides? The Importance of Climate Concern

ABSTRACT Lack of broad public support for climate policies is a major barrier to transitioning to a low‐carbon economy. Multiple studies report higher support for emission‐reducing policies among left‐leaning and climate‐concerned individuals, but the literature is mute about the interaction effects between the two factors. Do left‐leaning individuals with low climate concern support climate policies, and what about right‐leaning individuals with high concern? The answers to these questions will have important implications for political mobilization for climate policies: Increasing concerns for climate change, for instance by highlighting the consequences of climate change, might be a forceful strategy for some audiences but not for others. We examine the potential interaction between climate concern and a composite measure of political value orientation with statistical analyses of Norwegian survey data for the period 2018–2020. As outcome variables, we examine support for both demand‐ and supply‐side policy – fossil fuel pricing and reduced oil production – to provide more general results. Our study indicates a positive relationship between climate concern and policy support across the full political spectrum. Right‐leaning political value orientation moderates but does not deter the relationship between climate concern and support for climate policies. These findings hold for both fossil fuel pricing and reduction in oil production.