osf.io/preprints/os...

These findings extend beyond just the Netherlands. A new working paper by @morganlcj.bsky.social, @markuswagner.bsky.social and @danbischof.bsky.social also shows that climate activists face greater intolerance than farmers for identical protests actions in Germany 🇩🇪

Pro-environment movements that use disruptive tactics to raise awareness about ecological decline and climate change may also alienate parts of the public, who can become more receptive to parties skeptical of climate and environmental policies.

The findings highlight an important aspect of the green backlash 🌱: a negative bias against pro-environment protest movements among parts of the public and the press. This puts pro-environment movements in a more difficult position than environment-critical movements who defend status quo.

Study 2 shows where part of this bias may come from: media coverage of environmental protests. We analyzed coverage in the main Dutch right-leaning tabloid and the main left-centrist broadsheet. The tabloid was far more negative about climate activists and the broadsheet more balanced.

This asymmetry is most apparent when comparing right-wing populist vs mainstream voters. Thus: While most Dutch citizens care about the environment, many are less forgiving of climate activists’ disruptions than of farmers’ disruptions. static.cambridge.org/binary/versi...

This bias is asymmetric: citizens who are right-leaning and who have lower education or trust in politics show the largest biases between protest groups for the same actions, while those on the left, with higher education and trust less so.

In Study 1, we randomized protest groups (climate activists vs. farmers) and protest features (disruptive vs. non-disruptive) in an experiment. What we find: disruption lowered support for both groups, but farmers got much more leeway for the same actions.

We studied this using a survey experiment (Study 1) and media analysis (Study 2) in the Netherlands 🇳🇱—a country with strong support for climate action and environmental protection (we are, after all, largely below sea level…).

We were curious about how different features of these protests—who protests and how—matter for public support, as a way of better understanding the backlash against environmental policies.

Against the backdrop of the green transition 🌱, both pro-environment (e.g. climate activists 🍀) and environment-critical protest movements (e.g. farmers 🚜) have taken to the streets—often using a repertoire of confrontational protest actions.

We were curious about how different features of these protests - who protests and how - matter for public support, as a way of better understanding the backlash against environmental policies.

Thanks, Sarah!