Group Threat or Contact? The Effects of Local Immigration Primes on Policy Views

• In Event: Poster Session: Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

Abstract

How do the dynamics of local immigrant populations influence Americans’ attitudes about immigration? The group threat hypothesis predicts increases in local immigrant populations activate anxiety, reducing support for immigration. Alternatively, the intergroup contact hypothesis predicts exposure to immigrants in local communities increases support for immigration. This study arbitrates between these possible explanations for immigration policy views by priming the salience of changes in or current levels of local immigrant populations. In a survey experiment, we asked Americans to recall the size of the immigrant population in their locality or changes in this population in the last 15 years to test whether priming levels or changes in the immigrant population activate threat or contact responses. We argue that, consistent with the intergroup contact hypothesis, greater exposure to immigrants in local communities leads to a modest increase in support for pro-immigrant policies. Using text analysis, we also offer preliminary evidence that the mechanism for this increase in support is the contact theory.

Authors

• Stephanie Chan, Princeton University

• Tanika Raychaudhuri, University of Houston

• Ali A. Valenzuela, American University