Right-wing backing a meat tax? Experimental evidence from Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

Abstract Meat consumption and the willingness to reduce it is closely linked to one's political ideology and convictions. Contrary to standard beliefs suggesting that left-leaning individuals are predisposed towards meat reduction policies, more than those in the center or right, we show these political divisions depend on the specifics of the policy and shouldn't be taken as the absolute norm. Using a conjoint experiment involving nationally representative samples from Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands (N=1,505), we find no significant differences in support for a hypothetical meat tax policy among participants of varying political ideologies. Interestingly, after controlling for country fixed effects and covariates, we find that right-wing voters support the meat tax policy significantly more than left-wing voters. Specifically, a shift towards the ideological right is only associated with diminished support when the policy includes a direct or indirect revenue recycling mechanism, accounts for the negative impacts of meat production in its costs, and emphasises environmental concerns over health. Predicted policy support can be further explained by differing levels of Schwartz's human values. Based on our findings, we argue that the politicisation of meat should acknowledge these nuanced differences, as electoral support may not uniformly align across all domains.