The Role of Shared Political Ideology on Immigration Attitudes

• In Event: Perceptions, Attitudes, and Public Opinion on Migration

Abstract

To what extent does a shared political ideology shape attitudes toward immigrants? While past scholarship has concluded that the American public prefers immigrants with specific characteristics – such as highly skilled and educated individuals – little research has explored the role of immigrants' political ideology on these attitudes. In an era of hyper-polarization, however, immigrants' political beliefs may be critical in attitudes. This project investigates to what extent a shared political ideology shapes Americans' attitudes toward immigrants, willingness to reform the immigration system, and support for immigrants' integration into the community. To do so, I use a set of survey experiments analyzing the role of shared political ideology. In the first study, I assess the impact of shared political ideology on admission preferences. Immigrants sharing respondents' political ideology received a premium, while those with opposing beliefs received a penalty. These results remain consistent across respondents' political ideology and independent of whether the immigrant was Muslim or Latino. The second study showed that immigrants sharing political beliefs, even if undocumented, were seen as a positive contribution to the national fabric. These effects also translated into more significant support for integrating these immigrants into their communities. In the third study, shared political beliefs influenced support for immigration reform, even if doing so benefitted undocumented immigrants. The results also suggest possible mechanisms. While concerns over future elections played a factor, dislike toward members of the opposing political camp had the most significant impact. Ultimately, these experiments suggest that, rather than being perceived as outsiders, shared political beliefs can leave like-minded immigrants perceived as `one of us.' This project contributes to our understanding of political ideology, polarization, and attitudes toward immigrants and immigration.

Author

• Cesar Daniel Vargas Nunez, Claremont McKenna College