Shelter from the storm: How perceived extreme event experience and government trust shape public support for climate change mitigation policy in the United States

As emergency managers and other government and nongovernmental organizations in the United States cope with a variety of catastrophic events, including unprecedented natural disasters and a global pandemic, the role of government trust in responding to and addressing the threat from such events has gained attention among policy and public administration scholars. How changes in government trust following extreme events may influence public support for government-led climate policy is an unknown, yet potentially important, dimension of climate mitigation policy preference formation. To address this gap, we analyze cross-sectional survey responses (n = 1756) collected from 10 communities that experienced extreme weather events. We find that perceptions of event-related harm are positively associated with an increase in self-reported local government trust following an extreme weather event, and that increases in local and federal government trust are associated with higher levels of support for climate change mitigation policy. Our findings have implications for emergency managers, policymakers, and policy scholars as they consider how interactions with various levels of government during and after extreme events shapes public support for climate policy.