Drs. Paul Kellstedt, Mark Ramirez, Arnold Vedlitz, and Sammy Zahran published their research on value conflict in public opinion related to mitigating climate change.
Using national survey data collected as part of an ISTPP NOAA funded project, the authors test the roles of specific issue domain knowledge and general cognitive ability on attitudes toward global warming and climate change.
The results of this research provide evidence that cognitive ability is a better gauge of suppressing value conflict (cognitive dissonance) than is knowledge of a specific policy domain. The authors highlight that voters with less education suffer more from attitudinal ambivalence when debating policy preferences. The results from this study provide a better understanding of the structure of Americans’ support for policies aimed at limiting and adapting to climate change.
Kellstedt, Paul M., Ramirez, Mark D., and Vedlitz, Arnold. 2017. “Does Political Sophistication Minimize Value Conflict? Evidence from a Heteroskedastic Graded IRT Model of Opinions toward Climate Change.” British Journal of Political Science. DOI: 10.1017/S0007123417000369
