The Spaniards still do not have a clear position on climate change. This means that a large part of citizens (around 60 %) are inconsistent in our attitudes on this issue: we declare, for example, concerned with the phenomenon of global warming, but at the same time we grant a low level of support to policies aimed at fighting it. Alternatively, 40 % of the population does have consistent positions (approximately 20 % of Spaniards show a consistently favorable opinion and another 20 % consistently hostile). This means that climate change is still a moldable issue, not crystallized in Spanish public opinion.
The general tendency in the evolution of attitudes, however, is not positive: during the last two years there are more Spaniards who have worsened their opinion on climate change than those who have developed more positive attitudes. To that group of citizens whose opinion on climate change has become more negative we have called them backlashers in a study funded by and designed in collaboration with the European Climate Foundation. After conducting a 4 -wave panel survey (between November 2022 and October 2024), we identify a total of 698 backlashers In Spain, that is, citizens who throughout the study period had consistently worsened their perceptions about climate change (this group represented 22 % of the total sample).
What could the worsening of the climatic attitudes of the so -called backlashers? To inquire about this issue, we have recently conducted a survey in which we managed to recontacted with the backlashers previously identified. Our goal was to analyze with greater depth the characteristics of this group and the reasons that had led them to have a more negative vision of climate change.
The results show that the worsening of the climatic attitudes of the backlashers It is related to greater rejection of the policies that suppose a change in their lifestyle (in their income, in the use of the car or its consumption). Rejection emerges especially in policies to combat climate change based on green taxes, in prohibitions in meat consumption or limitations in the use of the private car (see graphics 1 and 2). The backlashers They are particularly sensitive to policies that limit the use of the car (such as low emissions areas), because they use private transport more than the rest of the population to go to work, carry out leisure activities or take children to school.
That the opinion on the climatic issue of some citizens has worsened in the last two years has nothing to do with the fact that this issue causes greater alarm or concern. On the contrary, when asked to backlashers On the sensations caused by climate change, unlike the general population, the issue does not cause fear or anger, but above all fed up (see graph 3). This feeling of boredom of the backlashers It is also comparatively more intense regarding gender policies and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. For the backlashersclimate change is an assimilable issue to other ideologized issues, especially those of a cultural type (such as feminism). Thus, the backlash climatic is connected to backlash Cultural, which also represents a negative reaction, in this case in the face of social or cultural changes perceived as too fast in matters such as feminism, LGTBI rights or diversity policies.
Finally, the backlashers They are not climatic hostiles (whose positions are consistent and stable in their radical rejection of the climatic issue), but citizens whose attitudes are less favorable today than two years ago. Unlike hostiles, backlashers They are a more eclectic group ideologically. However, they share elements of political disaffection: backlashers They are comparatively more hostile towards politics and politicians (they prefer experts) and are more favorable towards populist messages.
In conclusion, the root of the backlash Climate in Spain is not economical, but cultural. The fact that a part of the population today has a more negative vision of climate change that two years ago is not due to a worsening of their employment or its greatest economic vulnerability with respect to the rest. The distancing of backlashers Regarding climate support, it is related to a rejection of the political class and towards the restrictions that climate change policies suppose for their way of life, as well as with a tiredness comparable to that they feel before other markedly divisive issues in the ideological level.
All this suggests that the climatic issue in Spain is integrating, progressively, in the so -called cultural division and that, despite the fact that most Spanish citizens are concerned about climate change, it is very likely that this concern is finally buried in ideological blocks.
