Comparing public support for alternative climate policy designs: An experimental study

Abstract Scholars have debated how specific policy designs may generate stronger positive or negative reactions from the public, especially with regard to public expectations regarding pricing‐based policy designs compared to regulatory approaches. In this study, we report the results of a survey experiment on Virginia registered voters measuring public opinion toward a regulatory versus a pricing‐based policy design, both of which were included in the state's 2020 Clean Economy Act. Our data confirm several hypotheses indicating that public support is no higher for a regulatory design than for a pricing‐based design, and that perceptions of the key effects of both designs are also similar. These findings suggest that public opinion should not be presumed to favor regulatory over pricing‐based policy designs, nor should assumptions about public preferences hinder efforts toward an “all of the above” strategy for mitigating climate change.