Climate Change Denial and Right-Wing Populism: The Mediating Role of (Mis)Trust in Climate Science

Abstract: Climate change denial tends to be prevalent among right-wing populists, but the underlying reasons for this remain unclear. Given that persistent climate change denial among the public could impede efforts to address the negative consequences of anthropogenic climate change, it is important to identify the psychological correlates of these attitudes. This thesis aimed to investigate the hypothesis that mistrust in climate science mediates the association between attitudinal variables associated with contemporary right-wing populism and climate change denial, as right-wing populists' discourse on climate change tends to be centered on claims that climate science is politically biased and therefore unreliable. The results from an online survey with 232 participants from the United States demonstrated that climate change denial was most strongly predicted by exclusionism and anti-egalitarianism—negative attitudes towards feminism, multiculturalism, and homosexuality—which are prominent features of contemporary right-wing populism. And this association was entirely mediated by mistrust in climate science, even while controlling for general faith and literacy in science. Surprisingly, populist attitudes did not predict climate change denial or mistrust of climate science. This suggests that the hosting ideological dimension of right-wing populism, characterized by resistance to social and cultural changes, plays a key role in this context. Future efforts to understand and engage with the ideological concerns and biases associated with mistrust in climate science could therefore be beneficial when addressing climate change denial.