Income Inequality, Political Ideology, and Environmental Concern in the United States

We examine the relationship between income inequality and environmental concern, while accounting for the moderating influence of political ideology, which has been identified as a stable covariate of views on the environment. While income inequality, a social problem that has worsened over the past several decades, has been shown to influence several environmental outcomes—measures of environmental degradation—less work has considered how it shapes environmental views, especially in conjunction with political ideology. Yet, public opinions/views are known to affect policies and responses to social problems, including those pertaining to the environment. Based on data from the U.S. General Social Survey, we find evidence that income inequality influences environmental concern. Most importantly, the relationship between income inequality and environmental concern differentiates along political ideological lines. Among liberals, income share is associated with greater environmental concern, while among conservatives, the opposite pertains. In comparison to absolute income, income share emerges as a stronger predictor of environmental concern. This study is among the first to examine the relationship between income inequality and environmental concern at the micro (individual) level.