A recent IU survey report found that Hoosiers’ views on environmental issues usually stem from political affiliations. The report also suggests Hoosiers are more likely to agree with climate change solutions than agree on whether or not it is a significant or existent issue.
The report is called "The Hoosier Life Survey: Politics and Climate Change at the Crossroads." It was written after IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute sent the survey out to around 10,000 Hoosiers through email and paper postal mail. About 2,700 households answered the survey from August to December 2019, Hoosier Life Survey co-lead Matt Houser said.
Questions were related to what Hoosiers do and do not believe about climate change, what they are doing to help the environment and what environmental public policies they might support.
Hoosiers answered differently about whether or not they believe in climate change and what they believe the causes are depending on their political affiliation, Eric Sandweiss, survey co-lead and IU history professor, said.
“It already sets people in a frame of mind where they seem to be kind of solidified in their opinion according to the mindset that they share about other political issues,” he said.
