Climate Debates: Parsing Stances and Discourses of State Legislators on Facebook

• In Event: Analyzing Debate and Discourse about Science and Environmental Issues

Abstract

State governments have become pivotal in shaping policies and initiating action on climate change. State legislators use Facebook to engage with constituents, to speak directly to the news media and other elite stakeholders, and to engage in public conversation with each other. Despite this, the discourse and strategic approaches of state legislators regarding this issue remain largely unexplored. Utilizing nearly half a million Facebook posts from state legislators over 2020 and 2021, and employing state-of-the-art classifiers for climate topics and stances detection, our analysis reveals that 6.3% (n = 31,016) posts address climate change, with Democrats significantly more likely than Republicans to express positive stances. Moreover, negative stances on climate change are frequently linked with the dissemination of misinformation. Additionally, our research identifies states with particularly intense debates on climate policy, such as Pennsylvania and Texas, where the volume of posts both for and against climate action is noteworthy. These findings illuminate the landscape of climate discourse among state legislators, revealing partisan divides, misinformation concerns, and geographically concentrated debate, providing valuable insights for policy and communication strategies.

Authors

• Yuehong Cassandra Tai, Penn State University

• Xun Cao, Penn State University

• Yu-Ru Lin, University of Pittsburgh

• Bruce Desmarais, Pennsylvania State University