The association between experiencing environmental injustice and climate attitudes: a nationally representative survey of United States residents

Alex Segrè Cohen , Catherine E. Slavik

Despite growing public awareness, action to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts remains urgent. Environmental hazards and climate change effects are disproportionately placed on marginalized communities, exacerbating existing inequalities and creating a triple threat for those facing environmental pollution, social vulnerability, and limited adaptive capacity. Using the regulatory scope framework, construal level theory, and data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Environmental Justice Index and American National Election Survey, we examine how living in areas with high environmental burden and social vulnerability influences beliefs about climate change and support for greenhouse gas regulation. This research uses quantifiable measures of environmental injustice at the census tract level and self-reported survey responses about climate attitudes through a robust and representative sample of over 7,000 US residents. Our findings indicate Democrats are less supportive of climate policies when they face environmental injustices. Republicans' views on climate change remain unchanged based on their social and environmental vulnerability. These results highlight the complexities of environmental and social factors in shaping climate perceptions and underscore the need for multifaceted, place-based, and bipartisan policy approaches to comprehensively address climate and environmental justice.