Attitudes unchanged: no support for increased climate change beliefs, concerns, or voting intentions after Hurricane Helene

Abstract In late September 2024, Hurricane Helene struck the southeastern USA. Occurring only five weeks before the presidential election, did this extreme weather event change US-Americans’ beliefs, concerns, and voting intentions? In a natural quasi-experiment, we examined these potential consequences of Helene. 1155 participants, from affected and non-affected regions, were surveyed one month before and directly after the hurricane. Results revealed negligible changes in climate change beliefs, concerns, and voting intentions. Bayesian analyses found strong support for stability in attitudes. Specifically, it was approximately 13 times more likely that Helene did not increase climate change concerns and about 14 times more likely that it did not strengthen voting intentions for climate policies in affected regions. These results provide a case study showing that attitudes remained unchanged after a severe extreme weather event.