A recent study calls into question the political divide over climate change. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, shows support for policies to curb climate change is much higher than most people believe. An average Michigan resident, for example, might guess that support for climate action is around 43%, but researchers say the actual support level is between 66 and 80%. Barry Lyons, an anthropologist at Wayne State University, says he isn’t surprised.
“It’s not surprising to me because I have long believed – that especially, let’s say, in conservative communities – there is a lot of sort of hidden, or socially suppressed or closeted, climate concern.”
Researchers found in every state and every demographic studied, Americans underestimate support among all the policies they tested. The study uses the term “pluralistic ignorance” to describe a shared misperception of how others think or behave, and says that creates a “false social reality” which is an impediment to collective action.
