How framing and crisis saliency can reshape political coalitions: evidence from a cross-country experiment

How does different policy motivation framing affect broad public support for climate-related policies and is there a link to crisis saliency? Using a preregistered survey experiment conducted in six European countries, we randomly assign respondents to evaluate identical policy proposals introduced with either a climate-mitigation framing or an energy-security framing. We classify respondents according to the societal crisis they consider most important (give priority to) to capture differences in crisis salience. We find no significant average difference in policy support depending on which framing is used. However, framing effects are strongly heterogeneous: a climate framing increases support among climate-priority respondents while reducing support among those prioritizing economic or immigration concerns compared to the energy-security framing. These results suggest that framing reshapes political coalitions rather than increasing overall policy support.

Lindahl, T., G. Engström, J. Gars, S. Jagers, and S. Källman. 2026. Beijer Discussion Paper 284: How framing and crisis saliency can reshape political coalitions: evidence from a cross-country experiment . Beijer Discussion Paper Series.