National Pride and Immigration Attitudes in Latin America

• In Event: Poster Session: New Perspectives in Political Science Research: Scholarship by Vanderbilt REU Students

Abstract

Globalization and mass migration have made attitudes towards immigration policy a relevant issue in national public opinion. How do feelings of pride for one’s national political institutions influence survey respondents’ attitudes towards assistive immigration policy? Research in the US and Netherlands demonstrates that strong feelings of national identity often predict more negative attitudes towards immigrants, while the opposite is found elsewhere in North America and Europe. I hypothesize that individuals in Latin America who report higher levels of national pride will express more positive attitudes towards assistive immigration policy. I use surveys from LAPOP’s 2023 AmericasBarometer, which samples citizens across Central and South America. I regress immigration attitudes on a set of variables, including national pride. This research builds on existing scholarship and contributes to the comparative perspective on national identity in relation to immigration attitudes.

Author

• Sarah Mascarenhas, University of California, Riverside