Climate Change Denial and Skepticism : A Topic Prevalence Analysis from Open-Ended Survey Questions in China and the United States

Abstract

The importance of global climate change in society cannot be overstated. China and the United States share prominent roles in the development of international climate change mitigation strategies. Citizen support is crucial for climate change mitigation policy action to occur. However, due to the complexity of the issue, public views are diverse and can be uninformed or misinformed. There is evidence that American opinions on climate change are influenced by sources advocating denial and skepticism. We analyzed responses to the open-ended survey question “What comes to mind when you hear the words ‘climate change’?”, to better understand public views on climate change, Surveys were conducted of Chinese and American citizens from May – October 2015. We investigated the frequency that words/topics associated with climate change realities appeared in American and Chinese responses respectively. We also examined the frequency that words/topics associated with climate change denial, skepticism and misunderstanding occurred among respondents in both countries.