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

dc.contributor.authorColvin, R. M.en
dc.contributor.authorJotzo, Franken
dc.contributor.authorFielding, Kelly S.en
dc.date.accessioned2025-05-31T01:30:41Z
dc.date.available2025-05-31T01:30:41Z
dc.date.issued2024en
dc.description.abstractResearch 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.en
dc.description.sponsorshipFunding for this research was provided by the Australian National University College of Asia and the Pacific's Asia Pacific Innovation Program (APIP) 2021, and the Australian National University Public Policy and Societal Impact Hub's Policy Greenhouse Fund. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.en
dc.description.statusPeer-revieweden
dc.format.extent13en
dc.identifier.issn0743-0167en
dc.identifier.otherWOS:001335095900001en
dc.identifier.otherORCID:/0000-0002-2011-5433/work/174170957en
dc.identifier.otherORCID:/0000-0002-2856-847X/work/174172324en
dc.identifier.scopus85205937359en
dc.identifier.urihttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85205937359&partnerID=8YFLogxKen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1885/733755778
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsPublisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authorsen
dc.sourceJournal of Rural Studiesen
dc.subjectClimate change opinionsen
dc.subjectCulture warsen
dc.subjectEnergy transitionen
dc.subjectMediaen
dc.subjectPolitical polarisationen
dc.subjectPublic opinionen
dc.titleIs Australia's urban-regional schism on climate reality or rhetoric?en
dc.typeJournal articleen
dspace.entity.typePublicationen
local.contributor.affiliationColvin, R. M.; Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU College of Law, Governance and Policy, The Australian National Universityen
local.contributor.affiliationJotzo, Frank; Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU College of Law, Governance and Policy, The Australian National Universityen
local.contributor.affiliationFielding, Kelly S.; University of Queenslanden
local.identifier.citationvolume112en
local.identifier.doi10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103446en
local.identifier.puredd18dca7-7d90-498c-977a-aedcb73487aden
local.identifier.urlhttps://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85205937359en
local.type.statusPublisheden

Downloads