Science-Consistent Climate Health Beliefs As Predictors of Climate Behaviors and Support for Inflation Reduction Act Provisions and a Carbon Emissions Tax

Figures & data

Table 1. Science-Consistent Climate Health Beliefs

	Item	Science-Consistent	Science-Inconsistent		Climate change is not happening	Or are you not sure?
Temperature	Increases in the Earth’s temperature over the last century are due more to:	The effects of pollution from human activities 63.0%	Natural changes in the environment not due to human activities 21.4%		3.5%	12.2%
Human-Caused	Which comes closest to your view?	Human activities are affecting the rate of climate change	Climate change is just part of a natural cycle that has been going on throughout history		4.1	9.6
		58.5	27.8
Illness	Climate change is _____ the risk of illness and disease	Increasing	Decreasing	Having no effect	4.9	21.5
		58.1	1.4	14.2
Premature	Pregnant people who are exposed to extreme heat _____ to deliver early	Less likely	More likely	Just as likely	-	53.7
		3.5	23.8	19.1
Produce	Does increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere ____ the quantity and quality of fruits and vegetables?	Decrease	Increase	Has no effect	-	45.5
		28.1	16.5	9.9
Heat Waves	Are heat waves becoming ____?	More frequent and intense	Less frequent and intense	About the same	-	12.5
		58.0	2.9	26.6
Water- Borne	Is climate change _____ the risk of water-borne diseases	Increasing	Decreasing	Having no effect	5.0	40.3
		36.2	2.0	16.5
Mental Health	Is climate change ____ on mental health?	Negatively affecting	Positively affecting	Has no effect	4.7	28.3
		40.8	4.7	21.3
Deaths	The number of deaths associated with climate change in the U.S. has	Increased	Decreased	Stayed the same	4.5	24.5
		44.0	1.9	25.1
Extreme Weather	There are _____ extreme weather events in the U.S.	More	Fewer	The same number	-	11.3
		62.6	3.0	23.0
Bug-Borne	Will climate change _____ cases of malaria, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, dengue fever, and Zika virus?	Increase	Decrease	Not effect	5.9	32.6
		44.2	1.6	15.7
Income	Those with low income face greater climate-related health risks than others.	Definitely/Probably True	Definitely/Probably False	-	-	14.0
		65.3	20.7

Weighted response distributions (%). See Appendix E for Full Survey Instrument

Table 2. Factor analysis

	Public Health Effects of Climate Change	Effects of Climate Change on Extreme Weather	Climate Change is Real and Human Caused
	[1]	[2]	[3]
Temperature	−0.02	−0.05	0.90
Human-Caused	0.12	0.14	0.66
Illness	0.47	0.17	0.24
Premature	0.66	−0.13	−0.08
Produce	0.31	0.04	0.07
Heat Waves	0.15	0.72	−0.05
Cholera	0.73	0.02	0.01
Mental Health	0.54	0.13	0.08
Deaths	0.45	0.33	0.08
Extreme Weather	−0.05	0.79	0.08
Bug-Borne	0.77	−0.01	0.04
Income	0.54	0.11	0.07
Cronbach’s α	0.87	0.79	0.83

Table 3. Confidence in public institutions

Organization	Not at all confident	Not too confident	Somewhat confident	Very confident
NASA	7.0%	18.3	46.4	27.8
EPA	8.4	18.9	49.6	23.0

Weighted response distributions (%).

Table 4. Willingness to advocate for climate change

Activity	Definitely would not	Probably would not	Probably would	Definitely would	Or are you not sure?
Contact government official	23.5%	30.2	25.4	10.2	10.6
Sign petition	18.2	15.7	31.0	23.7	11.3

Weighted response distributions (%).

Table 5. Support for pro-environmental policies

Policy	Strongly oppose	Somewhat oppose	Neither favor nor oppose	Somewhat favor	Strongly favor	Or are you not sure?/Declined	IRA Provision(s)
Increased investment in energy-efficient public transit	7.0%	5.6	17.3	23.7	37.9	8.4	§13201–13204
Tax credits for rooftop solar or battery storage	8.1	5.4	17.3	25.7	36.4	7.1	§13302
Tax credits for electric cars	18.5	8.2	20.4	21.7	24.5	6.8	§13401–13403
Forgivable loans for rural communities improving energy efficiency	8.6	6.7	18.8	25.4	31.7	8.9	§13404, 22001
Community grants to protect against impacts of climate change	9.4	4.2	18.5	27.1	32.9	8.0	§80004, 60201,
Tax corporations based on carbon emissions to reduce climate change	10.5	5.5	16.9	20.3	35.5	11.4	N/A

Weighted response distributions (%).

Table 6. Pro-environmental behaviors

Activity	Yes	No
Purchased more energy efficient appliances	52.4	47.6
Reduced energy use at home	52.0	48.0
Reduced use of plastic	43.0	57.0
Installed water purifier	31.3	68.7
Installed air purifier	28.1	71.9
Increased consumption of plant-based food	27.1	72.9
Reduced travel by air	18.9	81.1
Increased use of public transit	10.3	89.7
Installed solar panels	8.8	91.2
Relied on an electric vehicle	6.3	93.7

Weighted response distributions (%)

Table 7. Sample demographics

Category	Response	Weighted (%)	Unweighted N
Age	18–29	22.8	243
	30–49	34.8	541
	50–64	24.9	410
	65+	17.5	325
Education	4-Year College Degree or greater	36.9	785
	Less than 4-year College Degree	63.1	750
Gender	Another gender*	0.5	8
	Female	50.3	779
	Male	49.1	751
Ideology	Conservative	27.8	420
	Liberal	28.6	496
	Moderate	43.6	619
Party Identification	Democrat	44.6	748
	Independent/Other/None	17.3	242
	Republican	38.1	542
Race/Ethnicity	Asian	6.5	124
	Black	12.5	144
	Hispanic	16.3	190
	Other Race	2.6	28
	White	62.1	1020

*With only 8 non-Male or Female identifying respondents, these respondents were dropped from modeled results, but are included in the overall topline results.

Figure 1. Climate Knowledge Predicts Pro-Climate Behaviors and Policy Support

Data Availability Statement

Data, R code, and documentation necessary to replicate the analyses will be deposited in OSF upon publication: https://osf.io/g4wvh/