Public Nuclear Preferences in the United States in the Context of Climate Change: Exploring Inter‐ and Intra‐Group Variations
基于三次全国互联网调查（超6000名美国成年人），分析气候变化信念如何影响公众对核能的支持，并考察政治意识形态、党派和文化世界观造成的群体内与群体间差异。
ABSTRACT Beliefs about climate change vary widely among members of the American public, encompassing opinions on whether the climate is changing, its causes, and what actions humans can take (or should take) to mitigate its effects. Some policy elites and environmentalists argue that nuclear energy—the largest source of carbon‐free energy in the U.S. – will act as a crucial bridge in the transition to renewable energy, while others hold strong opposition to it. Using data from three nationwide internet surveys involving over 6000 American adults, we analyze the relationship between beliefs about climate change and support for nuclear energy among the broader U.S. public. Additionally, we investigate how beliefs about climate change affect support for nuclear energy based on political ideology, partisanship, and cultural worldviews among different subsets of respondents, as well as intra‐group differences among stronger and weaker ideological and partisan groups. We also examine broader environmental attitudes in all our models and find that these underlying values continue to shape the U.S. public's positions on their preferred role of nuclear energy. Our findings have both theoretical and policy implications concerning the influence of public opinion on the future role of nuclear energy.