When it comes to climate change, a rose may not be a rose by any other name, after all. According to recent research by Jonathon Schuldt ’04, assistant professor of communication, the terms “global warming” and “climate change” have very different connotations for persons of different political persuasions. Climate concern – and the belief that global climate change is real – is highly partisan. According to Pew survey data, 77 percent of Democrats agree that there is ‘solid evidence’ the planet is getting warmer, whereas only 43 percent of Republicans share that view, a partisan divide of 34 percent. But much of it has to do with how the issue is framed. When asked to report their belief in ‘global warming,’ those polled showed a sizable partisan divide: 86.9 percent of Democrats believed global warming is occurring, but only 44 percent of Republicans believed it was real. But when simply asked about their belief in ‘climate change’ the opinion gap was dramatically reduced: 86.4 percent of Democrats and 60.2 percent of Republicans believed climate change is real.
“Although there are observable differences between parties in perception of global warming, perhaps most important is that perception between parties on ‘climate change’ is close,” said Schuldt. “One small change in wording can bring both parties together. The data on ‘climate change’ is not as far apart as we perceive. I hope we gain insight from this to pursue more progressive climate policies.”
Schuldt said the next step will be to explore the media’s powerful impact on climate perceptions. Intensive media coverage of snowstorms and heat waves might prompt people to use Google to search one term over another, for instance.
“I would like to dig further into online implications, particularly Google Trends,” he said.
