Populist Attitudes and Climate Scepticism: It's all about Science and Political Institutions
Why do populists oppose climate change? While initial research established the relationship between populism and climate attitudes, data constraints limited the ability to test different causal pathways against each other. We argue that populist attitudes affect climate attitudes through two distinct channels, namely institutional trust and attitudes towards science. The former argument focuses on political institutions as the central actors in implementing climate policy. If one is to distrust these institutions, individuals are more likely to believe that climate change does not exist, is less dangerous than often portrayed, and/or that it isn’t attributable to humankind. The latter argument claims that populists deny climate change because they distrust the underlying climate science. According to this view, populists would view climate scientists as part of the self-serving elite that betrays the people. Utilising new data from the Austrian National Election Study and structural equation modelling, we find strong support for the relationship of populism and climate attitudes via attitudes towards science. The relationship via institutional trust is substantially weaker. Populists systematically hold more negative attitudes towards science and consequently deny climate change.