The Impact of Message Source on the Effectiveness of Communications About Climate Change

We conducted a survey experiment in which we presented 1,850 respondents with one of two versions of an appeal emphasizing either the threats to the environment or threats to national security of the United States as a result of climate change. The messages were attributed to one of four sources: Re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience communication Vol. 41; no. 4; pp. 464 - 487
Main Authors Bolsen, Toby, Palm, Risa, Kingsland, Justin T.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.08.2019
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Climate change
Messages
Military
National security
Political parties
message source
public opinion
framing
climate change
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Summary:We conducted a survey experiment in which we presented 1,850 respondents with one of two versions of an appeal emphasizing either the threats to the environment or threats to national security of the United States as a result of climate change. The messages were attributed to one of four sources: Republican Party leaders, Democratic Party leaders, military officials, or climate scientists. The results reveal that messages attributed to military leaders, or to Republican Party leaders, can enhance the impact of the appeal. This finding underscores the importance that the source of any communication can have on its overall effectiveness.
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ISSN:1075-5470
1552-8545
DOI:10.1177/1075547019863154