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Shifting Republican views on climate change through targeted advertising

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew H. Goldberg

    (Yale University)

  • Abel Gustafson

    (University of Cincinnati)

  • Seth A. Rosenthal

    (Yale University)

  • Anthony Leiserowitz

    (Yale University)

Abstract

It is essential to increase public understanding of the existence, causes and harms of climate change. In the United States, Republicans are one important audience, as the bipartisan support needed for ambitious and durable climate policy is currently lacking. An important limitation of most climate change message testing is that it is usually based on controlled experiments, which may or may not be equally effective in the real world. Here we report the effects of a one-month advertising campaign field experiment (N = 1,600) that deployed videos about the reality and risks of climate change to people in two competitive congressional districts (Missouri-02 and Georgia-07). The videos were designed to appeal to Republicans and were targeted to this audience via online advertisements. The study finds that, within the targeted congressional districts, the campaign increased Republicans’ understanding of the existence, causes and harms of climate change by several percentage points.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew H. Goldberg & Abel Gustafson & Seth A. Rosenthal & Anthony Leiserowitz, 2021. "Shifting Republican views on climate change through targeted advertising," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(7), pages 573-577, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:11:y:2021:i:7:d:10.1038_s41558-021-01070-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01070-1
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Monika Pompeo & Nina Serdarevic, 2021. "Is information enough? The case of Republicans and climate change," Discussion Papers 2021-08, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    2. Robert J. Brulle & Carter Werthman, 2021. "The role of public relations firms in climate change politics," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 1-21, November.
    3. Alexander A. Kaurov & Viktoria Cologna & Charlie Tyson & Naomi Oreskes, 2022. "Trends in American scientists’ political donations and implications for trust in science," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Tessa Buchanan & James Ackland & Sam Lloyd & Sander Linden & Lee de-Wit, 2022. "Clear consensus among international public for government action at COP26: patriotic and public health frames produce marginal gains in support," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 1-8, February.
    5. Matias Spektor & Guilherme N. Fasolin & Juliana Camargo, 2023. "Climate change beliefs and their correlates in Latin America," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.

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