Environmental Nonprofit Organizations and Public Opinion on Global Warming

Abstract

Environmental nonprofit organizations (ENPOs) play a critical role in climate governance. Though ENPOs dedicate significant efforts to advocacy and providing public services, their interaction with public opinion on global warming has not been fully explored. Through multilevel regression analysis on county-level data in the U.S., this article examines the relationship between the presence of ENPOs and public perceptions of global warming, taking into account variations among ENPOs. The findings indicate that: (1) the overall presence of ENPOs is slightly, but not significantly, positively correlated with public perceptions of global warming, with advocacy-oriented ENPOs showing a more robust and statistically significant correlation; (2) there is an inverted-U relationship between the presence of ENPOs and public opinion on global warming, with advocacy-oriented ENPOs reaching tipping points earlier than service-oriented ENPOs; and (3) the partisanship of liberal counties influences this association. This study suggests a potential role for nonprofits in policymaking by interacting with public opinion.

Keywords

• environmental nonprofit organizations
• public opinion
• global warming
• the mere exposure effect