| When Climate Policy Resonates: The Interplay of Framing, Party Preference, and Political Trust in Shaping Policy Acceptance was authored by Sami Ahonen, Mikko Leino and Aino Tiihonen. It was published in JPP in 2026. |
This article asks whether three different justification framings for a road traffic emission trading system (ETS)—energy independence, economic resilience, and efficient climate mitigation—change public acceptance depending on people’s party preference and their level of political trust. Using an online survey experiment in Finland, the authors examine how framing effects vary across supporters of different parties and among respondents with high versus low political trust, and report that framing effects are conditional rather than uniform.
Survey experiment in Finland, Framing treatments: energy independence / resilience / mitigation, Heterogeneous effects by party and trust, Backlash among low-trust respondents
The study uses an online survey experiment administered in Finland in March 2024 with 1,485 respondents. Treatments highlighted one of three justifications for a road traffic ETS: increased energy independence, improved economic resilience, or efficient climate mitigation. The authors analyze treatment effects on reported policy acceptance and examine heterogeneity by respondents’ political party preference and measured levels of political trust.
Overall justification effects were limited, but the energy independence framing increased acceptance specifically among supporters of the populist radical right Finns Party. Effects of the justifications were minimal among respondents with high political trust and tended to provoke backlash (reduced acceptance) among those with low political trust.
