Increasing belief but issue fatigue: changes in Australian Household Climate Change Segments between 2011 and 2016

We applied the segmentation methodology developed by Leiserowitz, Maibach, and Roser-Renouf (2009) to national Australian samples collected in 2011 (n=1927) and 2016 (n=2503). In both samples we identified six Australian household segments which we labelled alarmed, concerned, cautious, disengaged, doubtful and dismissive. Between the two periods, we found the proportion of households in the alarmed and concerned segments was stable; however there was a decrease (28% to 20%) in the proportion of households in the doubtful and dismissive segments and an increase (27% to 33%) in the cautious and disengaged segments. We found that a greater proportion of households have personally experienced climate change, and were more likely to believe in human causation and believe that there is a scientific consensus about the issue. However, there was evidence of issue fatigue. Households were less likely to report that they had thought about climate change or talked about it with their frien...