The Annenberg researchers spend a lot of words trying to explain this, but it’s not that complicated: Partisanship is more powerful than religion in the US. Or as the authors put it, "the worldviews, political identities, and group norms that lead conservative Catholics to deny climate change override their deference to religious authority when judging the reality and risks of this phenomenon."
Partisanship in America has grown much deeper than differences over policy positions or ideology. It is about core issues of identity and tribe. If conservative Catholics are forced to choose between their sociocultural tribes and a new pope, it seems they will choose the former.
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