Republicans care more about the climate if you speak their language

[pecksniff]

Story.

Conservatives aren't exactly known for demanding action on climate change. But in one corner of the internet, there's a seemingly alternate universe where they express their concern for the planet in stirring, freedom-loving terms.

"Climate change threatens our freedom," the New Climate Voices site states right off the bat. In one video, a former Republican representative from South Carolina, Bob Inglis, argues that taking action doesn't necessarily mean bigger government, it's about creating a future "with lots of jobs and lots of wealth creation." In another, an evangelical climate scientist, Katharine Hayhoe, says that switching to clean energy is about "protecting our way of life."

Previous research has suggested that messages like these can heighten Republicans' level of concern about climate change, especially if they're delivered by conservative messengers. But most of these studies have taken place in a controlled lab setting, where the people being surveyed are paying close attention. It was an open question whether such messages would work in the real world.

A new study, one of the first to test this out, targeted moderate Republicans in two "purple" congressional districts in Georgia and Missouri, where there's a solid mix of people from both major political parties. Researchers from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the University of Cincinnati blasted ads from the New Climate Voices campaign on Facebook, YouTube, and across the web over the course of a month in the summer of 2019. The results suggest that some Republicans can be persuaded to care about global warming, and that microtargeting — a marketing strategy of tailoring ads to niche audiences based on a wealth of personal data — might be an effective way to reach them.

In recent years, the American public has increasingly grasped that climate change is here, with serious consequences, from wildfire-induced smokestorms to ferocious floods. And there are signs that the Republican Party is facing a reckoning over its decades-long resistance to taking action. Strategists have reportedly started warning GOP leaders that ignoring the problem is leaving the party out of touch with Americans (especially younger people), and have encouraged them to start framing the issue on their own terms.

 

[KeithD]

Republicans care more about the climate if you can show them how the big managers can make millions off it and the workers receive poverty pay? Yes, I believe that.

 

[Dribble]

Only shows how stupid they are...call it ANYTHING but what Democrats use...and they are all for it.

 

[WillJ8787]

Only shows how stupid they are...call it ANYTHING but what Democrats use...and they are all for it.

Yep, they sure are one step up in intelligence than a rock.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

There are some excellent non-political websites for keeping abreast of the latest peer-reviewed climate science research papers. You won’t learn about the science on Lit, or by reading articles written by climate activists or journalism majors.

If you’re someone who believes the UN targets are realistic or that the Paris accords are taken seriously by any of the signatory countries, then the Lit Politics board is the place to be.

 

[KeithD]

There are some excellent non-political websites for keeping abreast of the latest peer-reviewed climate science research papers. You won’t learn about the science on Lit, or by reading articles written by climate activists or journalism majors.

If you’re someone who believes the UN targets are realistic or that the Paris accords are taken seriously by any of the signatory countries, then the Lit Politics board is the place to be.

You haven't shown the capability to post anything nonpolitical, so you can just save your effort on this.

 

[CornusKousa]

Better to just call them all racist white supremacist....even the non-white ones.

 

[Dribble]

99% of all peer reviewed climate articles say there is a problem...and 98% of them say there are things we can do. I read at least the abstract of the majority of these. Kinda comes with what my PhD focused on. Not bragging...just fact.

There is no way in hell babyboomer can understand what he reads

 

[pecksniff]

Better to just call them all racist white supremacist....even the non-white ones.

That's got nothing to do with this, really. The threat comes mainly from petroleum execs, not working-class redhats.

 

[Cubantripod]

Only shows how stupid they are...call it ANYTHING but what Democrats use...and they are all for it.

Like whatever Trump is for, you're against? Last I heard Trump like oxygen.

 

[pecksniff]

Like whatever Trump is for, you're against? Last I heard Trump like oxygen.

Well, no . . . Trump is against foreign military adventures, and so are most liberals and leftists. He always demanded a bigger-and-better military establishment, just on general America-First principles, but he never seemed to have any particular use for it in mind.

 

[Cubantripod]

Well, no . . . Trump is against foreign military adventures, and so are most liberals and leftists. He always demanded a bigger-and-better military establishment, just on general America-First principles, but he never seemed to have any particular use for it in mind.

It was about having a big enough military where no one would want to mess with us. Problem is that when you have a toy you want to use it. If you buy a sports car, sometimes you want to get out on the open road so you can see what it can do.

 

[pecksniff]

It was about having a big enough military where no one would want to mess with us. Problem is that when you have a toy you want to use it. If you buy a sports car, sometimes you want to get out on the open road so you can see what it can do.

The scary thing is, I've actually seen government officials, and not Pubs alone, quoted as (very, very occasionally) saying things to the effect of "What good is this military establishment if we don't use it?" That kind of thinking leads to looking around for a fight to pick.

 

[pecksniff]

There are some excellent non-political websites for keeping abreast of the latest peer-reviewed climate science research papers. You won’t learn about the science on Lit, or by reading articles written by climate activists or journalism majors.

You can learn what you need to know about it here. See also here.