Wildfires can influence political behavior and public support for climate-related policies, especially among voters who perceive the threat. Using variation in wildfire exposure across California, this study finds that wildfires increased voter support for costly environmental ballot measures by 5-6 percentage points within 15 kilometers of impact, but only in Democratic-leaning areas where climate change beliefs are stronger.

📍 CONTEXT

This research leverages natural disasters to examine how salient short-term costs become when voters experience life-threatening climate hazards firsthand. It focuses on actual voting outcomes rather than survey responses alone.