Long-run trends in partisan polarization of climate policy-relevant attitudes across countries

Abstract

We summarize long-run trends in partisan polarization of voters’ climate policy-relevant attitudes across 36 countries and multiple decades (1993–2020). We find substantial growth in partisan polarization of these attitudes in the US, other Anglophone countries and much of Western Europe, but not elsewhere. Comparing Western European to Anglophone countries, partisan polarization is more prominent on different climate policy-relevant attitudes, and primarily involves supporters of different party types. Observed partisan polarization patterns are not well explained by changes in either linkage to economic ideology or levels of general societal disagreement on climate policy-relevant questions. Growing partisan polarization does not generally reflect all partisan groups becoming more accepting of climate reform yet diverging because of differing rates of change. Instead, what disagreements there are on these matters have become increasingly tied to party support. Our findings highlight the increasing difficulty of achieving sustained political consensus for effective climate reform across many countries.