Public concern about climate change impacts on food choices: The interplay of knowledge and politics

As scientists warn that climate change threatens to disrupt global agricultural systems, there is a need to better understand how the public thinks about the impacts of climate change on food. Building on prior research demonstrating interactive effects of knowledge (e.g., issue understanding and educational attainment) and political party identification in public concern about climate change, we analyze data from 816 respondents drawn from a national probability survey of U.S. adults (fielded September 4–December 10, 2018) to examine whether these factors would similarly predict concern about climate change impacts on food choice, specifically. Indeed, we find that knowledge variables more strongly predict concern among Democrats than Republicans. These general patterns persist in models featuring political ideology (liberalism-conservatism) instead of party identification, and when we control for belief in climate change and other demographic variables (age, gender). Results shed light on the dynamics underlying public concern about projected consequences of anthropogenic climate change that carry widespread implications for food security, public health, and nutrition around the globe.