Exploring Public Support for Farmed Animal Welfare Policy and Advocacy Across 23 Countries

Authors

  • Christopher Bryant Orcid
    Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
  • Christopher J. Hopwood Orcid
    Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
  • João Graça Orcid
    University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Adam T. Nissen Orcid
    Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
  • Courtney Dillard Orcid
    Mercy For Animals, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Andie Thompkins Orcid
    Mercy For Animals, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Abstract

Farmed animal policy and advocacy efforts both attempt to generate and depend upon public support. However, relatively little is known about the factors that predict support for animal protection legislation and advocacy across the globe. We analyse data from a large international survey (23 countries, n = 20,966) alongside other data sources on animal advocacy to investigate knowledge of factory farming, the connection between attitudes towards animals and the strength of animal protection legislation, attitudes towards animals based on their food status in different countries, and the connection between personal support for policy, animal advocacy, civic activism, and animal advocacy organisations. We found that higher support for animal welfare is associated with stronger farm animal protection legislation across countries and that concerns about specific animals can vary depending on cultural and religious factors. Contrary to study hypotheses, we did not find greater support for advocacy in countries with more advocacy organisations, suggesting important opportunities to pursue advocacy in relatively neglected regions. Results are interpreted in terms of how farmed animal advocates can take advantage of and potentially generate support for animal welfare throughout the world.