Perceived Local Population Dynamics and Immigration Policy Views

How do perceptions of local immigrant populations influence immigration policy views? Building on findings that Americans may not accurately perceive population dynamics, we argue that objective measures do not fully capture the effects of local context on public opinion. Our research uses novel sub...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican politics research Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 397 - 413
Main Authors Chan, Stephanie, Raychaudhuri, Tanika, Valenzuela, Ali A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.05.2023
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Immigrants
Immigration policy
Local population
Perceptions
Population policy
Public opinion
Reminders
policy views
survey experiment
immigration
public opinion
local context
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Summary:How do perceptions of local immigrant populations influence immigration policy views? Building on findings that Americans may not accurately perceive population dynamics, we argue that objective measures do not fully capture the effects of local context on public opinion. Our research uses novel subjective experimental reminders about current levels of and recent changes in local immigrant populations to explore how these perceptions impact immigration policy views. In a survey experiment, we asked 2,400 Americans to consider current levels of or recent changes in their local immigrant population. Asking subjects to consider current levels of local immigrant populations modestly increases support for pro-immigrant policies, with particularly strong effects among non-White and Republicans. These effects may be driven by positive perceptions of immigrants and have implications for understanding the role of local community frames in shaping public opinion about immigration, particularly for groups who do not typically support permissive immigration policies.
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ISSN:1532-673X
1552-3373
DOI:10.1177/1532673X221136842