Does populist anti-climate rhetoric drive public opposition to climate policy? Testing socio-cultural and economic frames

Right-wing populist (RWP) parties increasingly oppose climate policies, framing them as economically costly or imposed by an out-of-touch elite. Yet, little is known about the impact of such rhetoric on individuals or whether counter-frames can mitigate its effects. Using a pre-registered, UK-based survey experiment, we test whether exposure to either of these anti-climate frames influences attitudes and behaviour towards the UK’s ‘net-zero’ goal. We also test whether a counter-frame could alleviate these effects. We find both negative frames reduce support for net zero, with the economic frame showing stronger, more robust effects than the socio-cultural frame, and the counter-frame was ineffective. Still, even among those exposed to the negative economic frame, a majority supported the net zero goal (58%) and related policies (55%). Nonetheless, this study highlights the challenge to climate policy posed by RWP parties and suggests mere promises of compensatory benefits may be insufficient to build popular support.