Framing and Public Opinion on the Causes of Urban Wildfires in the United States

We report results from two survey experiments testing how frames in communication shape public views about the causes of urban wildfires in the United States. Respondents in a nationally representative sample (N = 2,155) and a targeted sample of California residents (N = 1,201) were randomly assigned to messages attributing recent wildfire damage to climate change, government mismanagement, both, or no cause. Exposure to the frames strongly influenced attributions of responsibility: government-mismanagement messages were especially persuasive, and climate-change messages polarized Democrats and Republicans. However, frames had limited effects on support for climate and urban wildfire mitigation policies. Californians, who had greater local exposure to the impacts of the 2025 southern California wildfire, were generally less responsive to the frames than respondents nationwide. The findings highlight how partisan identity constrains the ability of communication to redirect blame for climate-related hazards. It clarifies how communication strategies influence public understanding of hazard causation and reveals the limits of framing in politically polarized contexts.