Social media use, political ideology, climate change belief, and support for greenhouse emissions regulation: an analysis of the 2020 American National Election Studies (ANES)

Previous studies have reported mixed findings regarding the influence of social media use on climate change belief or climate-related actions. Political ideology and climate change belief have been found to be significant predictors of climate-related actions. This study hypothesized that social media use and political ideology predict support for greenhouse gas regulations through climate change belief. The hypothesized model was tested by SEM analyses using data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) 2020 Time Series, with a sample of U.S. citizens aged 18 or older living in the United States (N = 8,280). Findings reveal that (1) the hypothesized model provided an excellent fit to the data; (2) no form of social media uses (Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit) is associated with belief in climate change; (3) more liberal political ideology and stronger climate change belief predict stronger support for greenhouse gas regulations; (4) stronger climate change belief mediates the relationship between more liberal political ideology and stronger support for greenhouse gas regulations. Findings suggest that both political ideology and climate change belief are important psychological variables that should be the focus of public discourse about climate change. Climate change belief is a more proximal predictor of support for policy.