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General Article

The polarization of environmental issues in the United States and the role of political trust in mitigating conservatives’ attitudes to environmental spending
Jaeyoung Lim1†
1Assistant Professor, Division of Public Administration and Social Welfare, Chosun University, Gwangju Metropolitan City, South Korea
*jaeyounglim@yahoo.com
31 December 2020. pp. 281-293
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Abstract

Environmental issues once had bipartisan support in the United States (US) from not just liberal presidents, but also conservative presidents such as Roosevelt and Nixon who transformed the public’s perceptions of such matters. However, this consensus was short-lived and since the early 1970s, broad political support has waned, and the issue has become polarized. In this context, environmental issues pose an ideological risk to conservatives. However, political trust can act as a mechanism to alleviate their environmental antagonisms. Based on the existing literature and pooled data from three General Social Surveys (GSS), this study finds that political trust can moderate the relationship between conservatives and their attitudes to environmental spending. Conservatives are negatively associated with attitudes to environmental spending but depending on the level of political trust could support it.

Keywords
political trust
conservatives
ideological risks
environmental spending
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Information
  • Publisher :Sustainable Building Research Center (ERC) Innovative Durable Building and Infrastructure Research Center
  • Publisher(Ko) :건설구조물 내구성혁신 연구센터
  • Journal Title :International Journal of Sustainable Building Technology and Urban Development
  • Volume : 11
  • No :4
  • Pages :281-293
  • Received Date : 2020-12-11
  • Accepted Date : 2020-12-30
  • DOI :https://doi.org/10.22712/susb.20200022
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