10.7910/DVN/OVEGLSHAZLETT, CHADCHADHAZLETT0000-0003-1819-1928University of California, Los AngelesHarvard Dataverse2020Social Sciencesclimate, wildfire, environment, sensitivity analysisHAZLETT, CHADCHADHAZLETTUniversity of California, Los Angeles2020-05-232020-07-1610.1017/S0003055420000441148315906application/zip1.0CC0 1.0One political barrier to climate reforms is the temporal mismatch between short-term policy costs and long-term policy benefits. Will public support for climate reforms increase as climate-related disasters make the short-term costs of inaction more salient? Leveraging variation in the timing of Californian wildfires, we evaluate how exposureto a climate-related hazard influences political behavior, rather than self-reported attitudes or behavioral intentions. We show that wildfires increased support for costly, climate-related ballot measures by 5 to 6 percentage points for those living within 5km of a recent wildfire, decaying to near zero beyond a distance of 15km. This effect is concentrated in Democratic-voting areas, and nearly zero in Republican-dominated areas. We conclude that experienced climate threats can enhance willingness-to-act but largely in places where voters are known to believe in climate change.