Open AccessEnvironmental disasters and public-opinion formation: A natural experiment
Author(s) -
Tobias Böhmelt
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
environmental research communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2515-7620
DOI - 10.1088/2515-7620/abacaa
Subject(s) - eurobarometer , public opinion , salience (neuroscience) , salient , politics , political science , natural disaster , psychology , social psychology , political economy , geography , sociology , business , law , cognitive psychology , european union , economic policy , meteorology
This study leverages the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident as natural experiment to determine the causal impact environmental disasters may have on the formation of environmental public opinion. Using Eurobarometer data on more than 60,000 individuals’ attitudes toward environmental salience before and after the incident, I find that Fukushima had indeed a causal effect on whether people see the environment as a salient policy item. This impact is more strongly pronounced for what respondents think dominates the political agenda than for personal priorities. These results have important implications for the understanding of how public opinion about the environment is formed, and they have crucial consequences for the suspected link between policymaking and public opinion.