Is Australia's urban-regional schism on climate reality or rhetoric?

R. M. Colvin*, Frank Jotzo, Kelly S. Fielding

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Research and popular discourse have not settled on whether there exists an urban-regional divide on climate. In Australia, we observe rhetoric in the public sphere suggesting such a divide. In this paper we examine whether the urban-regional schism on climate reflects the reality of Australians' opinions on climate change. We conducted a quota survey of the Australian population (N = 2,952) and measured opinion across seven climate and seven social issues. We found limited evidence of an urban-regional divide on climate change and most social issues. However, urban and regional Australians’ attitudes differed on one item: perception of difference between urban and regional people. We suggest that urban-regional divide rhetoric may appeal to rural identifying people, not regional residents per se. We also identified the role of media habits: consumption of ABC (the national broadcaster) or Sky News (News Corp subscription channel) are significant predictors of climate opinion.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103446
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Rural Studies
Volume112
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2024

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