Politicians underestimate support for climate action even more than the general public

Combatting climate change requires political action. However, whether politicians in democratic countries implement climate actions depends on their perception of the voters’ willingness to accept such actions. We surveyed a unique sample of 1,599 incumbent politicians from Germany and compared their perceptions of the publics’ willingness to support climate action with the actual willingness reported in two nationally representative samples of about 1,000 Germans each. Across political parties, politicians underestimated public acceptance of taxes and laws, and the willingness to contribute 1% of income to mitigate climate change. This pluralistic ignorance effect among politicians was even more pronounced than the pluralistic ignorance effect obtained in the population.