Dimensions of U.S. Public Opinion on Border Security

• In Event: Public Opinion and Foreign Policy

Abstract

This project explores the foundations of US public opinion on border security. While political interest in border security has regrown in recent years, the academic focus on the drivers of public attitudes on border security remains limited. Yet, preferences for border security may be linked to political polarization or have ties to several more-studied issue areas, including immigration and security. In this paper, we describe the dimensions of mass attitudes on border security. First, we present a descriptive analysis of publicly available US survey questions on border security from 1980-2020, exploring patterns of issue linkages, policy prescriptions, and question framing. We assess the relationship between these categories and the level of public support for more border security. This historic perspective allows us to evaluate how the American public’s conversation on border security was framed over time—often in response to major events or legislation, in addition to how frameworks differentially interact with preferences for border security. Next, using original contemporary surveys, we illustrate the connections between public opinion on border security and attitudes on immigration, security, and trade. These preferences also interact with individual-level influences including partisanship and geographic and media market proximity to borders. Our findings clarify the foundations of border security preferences held by Americans as a first step in understanding broader mass opinion. By demonstrating the nuance in how Americans view border security, we ground often-polarized debates on the topic in a better-defined landscape of public opinion.

Authors

• Lauren Pinson, University of Texas at Dallas

• Beth A. Simmons, University of Pennsylvania