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Public attitudes on the environment influence a host of important outcomes, including public policy, party preferences, media coverage, and individual behaviour. Whether and to what extent environmental attitudes influence the vote matters in its own right, and is an important mechanism through which those attitudes influence public policy. The case of the 2020 General Election in Ireland had a number of interesting features: in historical perspective, it was a ‘more likely’ case of environmental voting, as public concern about the environment was higher than ever before; and changes to the party system begged questions including how the environment influenced the vote for Sinn Féin and whether its influence distinguished the Greens in the crowded left-of-centre space. Using data from the Irish National Election Study (INES), this paper describes environmental attitudes in early 2020 and shows that they played an important role in determining vote choice at the 2020 General Election. A majority of people reported prioritising the environment, about one-third reported that the environment was among the issues that influenced their vote, and the Greens were the most trusted party on the issue (and thus the ‘issue-owner’). Although only a small minority of pro-environmental voters reported that it was the issue that most influenced their vote, it did influence voter behaviour beyond Green Party voters, as the vote for Sinn Féin and for Fianna Fáil was strongly influenced by environmental attitudes. Although focusing only on one moment in time, these findings may have political implications (regarding electoral competition and coalition formation) and methodological implications (for how we ask questions about environmental attitudes).
All Welcome!
This event takes place on Wednesday October 26, 2pm. Appellate Court, Glucksman Library