Do Chinese Residents’ Perceptions of Air Pollution Affect Their Evaluation of Central Government Performance? The Moderating Role of Environmental Knowledge

In China, winning the battle for blue skies is a focal point of the central government’s environmental governance efforts. Public evaluations provide validity and legitimacy to the Chinese government’s top-level design for environmental governance. This study utilizes data from two waves of the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) conducted in 2013 and 2021, paired with objective air quality data, to conduct a longitudinal analysis of public evaluation of central government environmental governance in China. Furthermore, it explores the relationships between perceived air pollution, objective air quality, environmental knowledge, and public assessment of central government environmental performance. The findings indicate the following: (1) Over the past decade, there has been a noticeable improvement in air quality in China, leading to a significant enhancement in public perception of the central government’s environmental performance. (2) Subjective perceptions of air pollution have a significant negative impact on evaluations of the central government, whereas objective environmental governance measures do not exhibit significant effects. (3) Environmental knowledge plays a negative moderating role in the relationship between perceived air pollution and public assessment of central government environmental performance; individuals with higher levels of environmental knowledge tend to express greater dissatisfaction with the central government’s environmental performance upon perceiving air pollution. These research findings offer valuable insights for informing the formulation of environmental governance policies by the central government of China and provide lessons for other developing and highly polluting countries.